The Chennai Super Kings play the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first semi-finals of the Champions League T20. The match will be played at the Kingsmead in Durban.

Both the Indian teams qualified for the knock-out round by the skin of their teeth and now one of the sides will crash out in the semi-finals. Bangalore (11/10 at William Hill) had won only two of their four league games – the same as the Lions and Mumbai Indians and still went through on a better net run-rate. Chennai (5/6 at SportingBet) won three games, and also tied for the first spot with Victoria and Warriors, and again, possessed a better NRR than the others to enter the semi-finals.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have lost the services of Jacques Kallis due to injury. This will mean that the middle-order will need to take up more responsibility than before to entertain thoughts of beating a far superior Chennai side. Virat Kohli (9/2 at Boylesports) has twice led the charge for Bangalore, but the time is right for the two foreign players – on whom the side spent an extra $200,000 – Ross Taylor (4/1 at Blue Square) and Cameron White (7/1 at Paddy Power) to come good.

Rahul Dravid (4/1 at bet365) has had a couple of good innings under his belt in the series so far. With Kallis out of the tournament, the onus will be on Dravid to bat through the innings and top-score for the Bangalore side.

Chennai’s batting has been a tad off-colour in the series and that could be due to the lack of runs from Suresh Raina (7/2 at Coral) and Matthew Hayden (4/1 at BetFred). Michael Hussey (7/2 at Blue Square) took over from Hayden at the top of the order, and got a half-century, but he hasn’t been able to get the runs quickly. 

While he may still be retained, the temptation may be there for skipper MS Dhoni (11/2 at BetFred) to get in Hayden as well, in which case, Justin Kemp (14/1 at Blue Square) may have to be dropped. This is assuming that the all-rounder Albie Morkel (12/1 at Coral) does not get fit by Friday. If he does, he should replace his South African team-mate Kemp.

Tips:
Favourites: Chennai Super Kings (5/6 at SportingBet)
Top Chennai batsman: MS Dhoni (11/2 at BetFred)
Top Bangalore batsman: Rahul Dravid (4/1 at bet365)