IPL 2018: It's Virat Kohli Vs MS Dhoni As RCB Look To End Their Jinx Against CSK

The sporting rivalry between Bengaluru and Chennai, the two southern powerhouses, runs deep, fuelled as it is by circumstances other than sport.

It will be no different on Wednesday night when Chennai Super Kings call on Royal Challengers Bangalore in their den¡ª the M Chinnaswamy stadium.

The match will be as much a battle of leadership ¡ª between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli ¡ª as between the teams, namely CSK¡¯s experienced lineup versus RCB's inconsistent batting and bowling.

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Kohli hasn¡¯t beaten Dhoni¡¯s men since the away contest in 2014 and the Delhi player will be looking to break the four-year duck.

The two camps have seen exchange of manpower since they last met two seasons ago ¡ª prior to CSK¡¯s ban. Ashish Nehra, who helped CSK over the line against RCB in 2016 in Qualifier 2, is now the bowling coach with the Bengaluru side.

Shane Watson, CSK's red-hot all-rounder, was the stand-in skipper last season for RCB and had rather cold season.

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Going on form, CSK will start the overwhelming favourites, having won four of their five matches this season. RCB have won just two from the same number of outings and will have to get a move on if they are to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Both teams will lineup on the back of victories in their respective league encounters over the weekend. While the sell-out crowd will expect nothing but fireworks in the ¡®southern derby,' both teams will tend to tread cautiously.

The biggest takeaway for CSK from their four wins has been team effort. In each of the matches they have found a go-to man who has chipped in well with the bat or the ball.

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Be it Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur or Shane Watson with the ball or their batting lineup comprising the red-hot Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, Dwayne Bravo and skipper Dhoni, a gamechanger has always been around the corner.

On a Bengaluru track which offers enough turn especially early on, CSK, who boast of an enviable line-up of experienced spinners, will be further strengthened by the return of leggie Imran Tahir.

The South African, who was laid low by illness for the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, was back in the nets on match eve and coach Stephen Fleming confirmed he was available.

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In contrast, Kohli and his men have problems in plenty. For starters, they don't have their opening partnership sorted yet.

In five matches they have had three different opening partners with Quinton de Kock opening with Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli and Manan Vohra. Barring the 40-run stand between Kohli and de Kock against Mumbai Indians, none of the other partnerships have crossed nine runs. Their bowling in the death has been far from convincing and their middle-order too has been inconsistent.