IPL 2021 Updates: IPL schedule might be a blessing for RCB & curse for CSK

The 14th edition of the world’s greatest franchise T20 league, Indian Premier League (IPL),  will start on April 9, 2021. All the details about the venues, matches, date & time have been revealed by the BCCI.

The opening match will see a tough contest between the defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. There will be a total of 56 league matches in 6 venues, with 10 matches each in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bangalore, and 8 matches each in Ahmedabad and Delhi.

Since the schedule has been fixed, discussions have started about who gained benefit and who in an unfavorable situation. According to the Indian media analysis so far, former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team Chennai Super Kings may be the most troubled in this year’s schedule, and the biggest advantage may be gotten by the current India captain Virat Kohli’s team Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Probably no team else in the IPL has been able to show how to use their home conditions like CSK. Dhoni’s team has made Chepauk Stadium their stronghold. The team has continued to play one play-off after another in the IPL in a row as they have not seen too many losses at home. CSK could not play in the play-off for the first time in last season’s IPL which was held in the United Arab Emirates, it might not just be coincident that Dhoni & co. couldn’t make it to the play-offs.

CSK will play 5 matches at Mumbai’s Wankhede, 4 at Delhi’s Feroz Shah, 3 at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy, and 2 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in this edition of the league. All of these grounds are known for their hard pitches and small boundaries.

The stated stadiums do not extend a hand of friendship to the spinners. And the CSK, who have built a spin-dependent attack because of the spin-assisted wickets at Chepauk Stadium in mind, may be in trouble. It will be a tough challenge for the team’s spinners like Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Karn Sharma, and Sai Kishore to stop the opposing batsmen. On the other hand, none of the fast bowlers in CSK have a fireball.

Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran, and Dwayne Bravo are the pacers for them. If they can’t keep the line-length almost perfect and can’t bowl brilliantly, the task will be difficult for them.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

Many say that Kohli-led RCB is going to win the first match against Mumbai Indians – the Bengaluru supporters can take this in their minds. As the records show that Mumbai Indians could not win the first match of the tournament for eight years after the IPL  2012. A win over five-time title winner, Mumbai Indians will give Kohli & co. a good start.

The schedule also seems to have a lot of advantages for Kohli’s team this time. They played in the play-offs in the UAE last year, which they could not do in the previous four years. The big reason for this achievement is they didn’t play at their home ground Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The stadiums in the UAE were much larger than the smaller Chinnaswamy Stadium. That is why the RCB’s spinners did not get smashed that much last season, which they had to face every season before. In previous seasons, seven matches were played at home ground, but there will be no “home” match in this season, and this might be an advantage for Kohli’s team.

The fans might raise questions about the abilities of the RCB spinners in these venues. Kohli has got the answer for that as they have Kyle Jamieson, Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, and Kane Richardson in their hands who are great pacers to make a recovery for them if the spinners have a bad day.

 IPL 2021 vibe has started. Be updated every day and play on Baji!