Chennai, March 28: Chennai Super Kings will host Royal Challengers Bengaluru in match 8 of the Indian Premier League 2025 on Friday.

This will be the 34th meeting between CSK and RCB, with the Super Kings leading the head-to-head 21-11. CSK have also won 8 of their 9 encounters in Chennai, with their sole defeat coming in the inaugural season of 2008

CSK opened their season with a victory over Mumbai Indians last Sunday while RCB steamrolled the reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders in the curtain-raiser at the Eden Gardens.

CSK have not lost at Chepauk to RCB since the inaugural season in 2008. RCB’s only victory against CSK at Chepauk came way back in only their second-ever meeting on May 21 in 2008.

When will the CSK vs RCB match take place?

The match will take place on Friday. The match will begin at 7:30 PM IST, with the toss scheduled for 7 PM IST.

Where will the CSK vs RCB match take place?

The match will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Where will the live broadcast for CSK vs RCB match be available?

The match will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network.

Where will live streaming for CSK vs RCB match be available?

The match will be streamed live on the JioHotstar app.

Squads:

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Matheesha Pathirana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Nathan Ellis, Mukesh Choudhary, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Khaleel Ahmed, Jamie Overton, Shaik Rasheed, Anshul Kamboj, Shreyas Gopal, Noor Ahmad, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Andre Siddarth C, Vansh Bedi.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Jacob Bethell, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara.

New Delhi, March 27: Former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni said that he would feel “useless” on the field if he is not doing the behind-the-stumps duty, as he reads the game well while doing wicketkeeping.

The 43-year-old continues to don the wicketkeeping gloves for the CSK as the franchise has shown immense faith in the veteran. Dhoni has been associated with CSK since the inception of the IPL, barring two seasons when the team was banned from the tournament, and led the side to five titles and 10 finals.

“If I’m not wicketkeeping, I think I’m useless on the field because that’s where I read the game in the best possible manner. It’s a challenge, and that’s what makes it interesting. Last few years, I don’t know whether it is 2 or 5 years, my franchise will be like you play till you want to play. Even if I’m on the chair, they will be like, don’t worry you play. I want to enjoy cricket, so one year at a time,” Dhoni said in a video posted by Star Sports on X.

Dhoni stepped down from the CSK captaincy role last season, with Ruturaj Gaikwad taking the reins. In the IPL 2025 season, CSK started their campaign with a comfortable win over Mumbai Indians at Chepauk on Sunday.

Despite not being the captain of the side, Dhoni is actively seen adjusting the field and guiding Gaikwad on the ground.

After the match against Mumbai, Dhoni lauded Gaikwad’s leadership skills and said the youngster takes most of the decisions on the field.

“After IPL last year, I almost immediately told him, ‘90% you will lead next season, so start preparing yourself mentally’. Before the start of the tournament, I also told him, ‘If I give you advice, it doesn’t mean you have to follow it. I will try to stay away as much as possible’,” Dhoni said on JioHotstar show “The MS Dhoni Experience”.

“During the season, a lot of people speculated that I was making the decisions in the background. But the fact is, he was making 99 per cent of the decisions. The most important calls – bowling changes, field placements – were all his. I was just helping him out. He did a brilliant job of handling the players,” he added.

Dhoni has so far played 265 games and scored 5,243 runs with 24 half-centuries to his name.

CSK will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their second match of the season at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.

New Delhi, March 27: Ahead of five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) taking on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said the upcoming clash is something he always awaits to play, citing the presence of talismanic batter Virat Kohli.

In 33 matches between the two teams, CSK have won 21 times while RCB emerged victorious on 11 occasions. What also stacks up the odds against RCB are that they have beaten CSK only once at the MA Chidambaram Stadium that too in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008.

“They have done really well every year now. And whenever Virat Kohli is in the opposition, whenever he is playing, it is always a clash to look forward to. He’s been doing it for a really long time now, consistently for RCB and for the country as well. So, it is always a great match, and after Mumbai Indians, this is the second match we always look forward to,” said Gaikwad to JioStar on Thursday.

CSK come on the back of beating fellow five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets at Chepauk, where Gaikwad made a stroke-filled 53 off 26 balls as a number three batter.

RCB arrive in Friday’s clash after outclassing defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets at the Eden Gardens, where Kohli made an unbeaten 59 off 36 balls. Gaikwad also revealed that he had congratulated Rajat Patidar after the right-handed batter was named as the new RCB captain ahead of IPL 2025.

“Really looking forward to playing against RCB, especially with Rajat (Patidar) as the new captain. Immediately when they announced Rajat as the captain, I messaged him and wished him good luck. We have been friends for a while now, we know each other really well, and obviously, RCB has been one of the strongest teams,” he concluded.