The last time the Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Chennai Super Kings in Chennai, Jacques Kallis used to open for them, Rahul Dravid was the skipper and Virat Kohli was ababy-faced 19-year-old, quite a few years away from the chiselled ‘King’ he would transform himself into.

On May 21, 2008, at the inaugural edition of theIPL, RCB had last humbled Chennai in their den, winning a low-scoring matchby 14 runs. After that, 17 seasons have passed, but RCB haven’t managed to crack the Chennai code.

On Friday, they will have another shot at ending their Chennai jinx. And to their advantage, they look to be in fine shape to outsmart Ruturaj Gaikwad’s team. Having bulldozed past the Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening fixture, with a lot of their players, including Kohli, seeming to be in rhythm.

But saying that is saying just half the story, because CSK are also coming off a win in their first match, and they too will be charged up with confidence. More so because the game is at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, a fortress that visiting sides usually find tough to breach.

For Rajat Patidar’s RCB to emerge victorious, they will have to beat CSK in their own game, that is, they must be better than the home side while dealing with spin, both with the bat and ball. Do they have that ability?

With Kohli in a run-making mood and Phil Salt providing him that space with his aggressive takeout of the rival bowlers at the other end,RCB can hope for a strong start. Skipper Patidar is no mug with the bat either. In batting, RCB can challenge CSK.

But it’s with the ball where the story looks tricky. Will RCB’s Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma be able to out-spin the CSK trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad and Ravindra Jadeja? Difficult. Not impossible though.