In the second T20 cricket doubleheader of the IPL 2026 season, the Lucknow Super Giants take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad while the Royal Challengers Bengaluru face the Chennai Super Giants. The latter match is one to observe closely, especially because of Virat Kohli.
Kohli is one of the most prolific openers of all time, having won the Orange Cap twice during his impressive career. The only batter who has won the award more is David Warner.
Looking at the matchup between RCB and CSK, it’s really a matter of whether or not the CSK bowlers can neutralize Kohli. With that in mind, here are some batting and bowling predictions for today’s match, along with a pitch report, and which players are on each team.
Virat Kohli: How Many Runs Will Kohli Knock in Today’s Match?
Every cricket fan loves seeing a good knock. The question that CSK and RCB fans are asking themselves is, who will bring the magical bat to the pitch and hit a noteworthy knock for their squad?
Luckily for RCB fans, there are a few options. The top option being Kohli.
Before this match, Kohli found himself on the outside of the Orange Cap leaderboard. This is not cause for alarm, as he and his RCB squad have played only one match, while every other team has already played two.
In that first match, Kohli hit 69 runs off 38 balls.
Now, for Sunday’s match against CSK, Kohli is a lock for a 50-run knock. If that comes to pass, he will enter the Orange Cap leaderboard with 119 runs. In fact, 119 runs is good enough to secure third place in the Orange Cap race.
At this stage of his career, Kohli does not see many centuries in his form. The last time he hit a century in the IPL was back in the 2024 season, where he hit a 113-run knock. While it’s not impossible for him to hit a century this year (or this match), it’s not the most likely scenario.
Luckily for Kohli and RCB fans, he only needs a 50 to put his name in the Orange Cap race.
Purple Cap Race: Jacob Duffy vs Anshul Kamboj
Leading the way for CSK to stop RCB’s attack will be Anshul Kamboj. Heading into Sunday’s match, he is CSK’s leading wicket-taker.
Kamboj has collected two wickets in each of CSK’s matches this tournament, giving him four total for the season. Is Kamboj the man for CSK to neutralize Kohli?
They have other bowling options to limit runs and take wickets. Matt Henry has been a solid bowler for CSK. Henry took two wickets in CSK’s last match against the Punjab Kings despite surrendering 54 runs.
Noor Ahmad is the X-Factor for CSK. His arm has yet to come alive during this tournament, as he is still looking for his first wicket. He has recorded figures of 0/24 & 0/28 with 10 dots.
No Hazlewood? No Problem
With Josh Hazlewood still on the mend, RCB purchased the services of Jacob Duffy. He put forth an incredible maiden match with RCB in the opening match of the IPL 2026 season.
Duffy posted a 3/22 figure, with all three wickets coming during the Sunrisers Hyderabad powerplay. While he has dropped outside of the top 10 in the Purple Cap race, it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to put up a two-wicket performance and launch back onto the leaderboard.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings Pitch Report
Sunday’s match will be at home again for RCB, taking place at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Crictracker offers some thoughts on what to expect from the pitch in today’s clash.
“The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is known to be a batting-friendly surface,” the outlet reports. “However, spinners have had their say at the venue. High-scoring thrillers have been common to the historic ground ever since the first IPL match was played here on April 18, 2008.”
“In the most recent encounter played here, the chasing team reigned supreme, and the same is likely to happen on Sunday as well.”
Of course, that match was the six-wicket victory for RCB over SRH. The final score in that match was 203/4 to 201/9. For today’s battle of the bats, if RCB wins the toss, expect them to bowl first again.
T20 Cricket Squads: RCB vs CSK
Here are the squads for each team.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad
- Batters: Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, & Jordan Cox.
- All-Rounders: Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Venkatesh Iyer, Satvik Deswal, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, & Kanishk Chouhan
- Bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Abinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, & Yash Dayal.
Chennai Super Kings Squad
- Batters: Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson, Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, & Urvil Patel.
- All-Rounders: Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Zak Foulkes, & Shivam Dube.
- Bowlers: Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Shreyas Gopal, Gurjapneet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, & Spencer Johnson.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post IPL Live: Will Virat Kohli Knock a Century Today? appeared first on Heavy Sports.