Cricket fans around the world are eagerly waiting for the mouth-watering IPL 2024 clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings, which will be played on Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. This is going to be a special match as it will decide the fourth team for the Playoffs of the season. The match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans got washed out due to rain, which resulted in the former getting qualified. With only spot left, both RCB and CSK will look to put their best foot forward.

RCB had a horrendous start to the season as they lost seven out of eight games and were on the verge of elimination. However, fate had other plans in store as they bounced back in style and won five games on trot and became strong contenders for the Playoffs.

SRH’s qualification have reduced RCB’s chances but left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh is positive about his team’s approach.

“As you know that after the first half of the season, RCB had only one per cent chance of qualification. From there, we have played exceptionally well and reached where we are today. We have only one thing in mind that we have to play really good cricket and rest we believe in the love and support of our fans. We don’t care whether we have one per cent or two per cent chance. What important is that we have a chance,” Swapnil told NDTV.

About playing the last league stage game against CSK, he said, “It’s every player’s dream to play against MS Dhoni. He is a legend. Talking about our preparations, our team has been playing good cricket. Our momentum is in the right direction and we are really confident about the game.”

Swapnil went on to comment on the ‘impact player’ rule and stated that it has affected the thinking of the bowlers. 

“Because of this impact player rule, you know that the opposition team will be having at least seven proper batters and an all-rounder will be batting at No 8. Before this rule, an all-rounder used at bat at No 6 or 7 but now he is batting at No 8 or 9, so as a bowling unit, you are mentally prepared that you will be getting thrashed. Every team has been leaking runs, so that thought somewhere relaxes our minds. We know that we will be conceding many runs, so our goal is to execute our plans properly without thinking about the results,” he said.

The 33-year-old spinner also praised Virat Kohli and also shared the piece of advice that he received from the star batter.

“I have played with Virat Kohli during my Under-19 days. We were not in touch for many years and before I joined RCB, I met him during a match in Jaipur, where we both had a good 15-minute conversation. He taught me a lot of things but his advice of ‘back your instincts’ definitely stood out. He also advised me to stop thinking much about the situation and express myself on the ground,” said Swapnil.