Grieving from consecutive defeats, Rajasthan Royals would hope to bounce back with a win against Chennai Super Kings in their IPL match at home on Thursday, but it will be easier said than done as the MS Dhoni-led team is on a three-win frenzy trot. With their top order consisting of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube usually shooting together, CSK has managed three easy wins as the Royals lost their last two games.
Thursday’s game could be a battle between CSK’s top hitters and the Royals’ world-class spinners.
Conway is the second most prolific batsman so far this season with 314 runs from seven matches, while a “transformed” Rahane, who hit a 71 not out from just 29 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday, was in devastating form with 209 runs from five games, with an astonishing strike rate of 199.04, the highest among batters.
The Royals can take a little comfort in the fact that they emerged victorious in their first meeting of the season against CSK. However, even then, CSK came close to a victory as their talisman Dhoni turned back the clock with his batting, before going down by three runs in front of his home crowd.
Things are different at the moment though with Chennai recording their fifth win of the season, against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, to take the top spot in the standings by 10 points.
A victory for CSK, at Sawai Man Singh Stadium on Thursday, will further brighten their play-off prospects. The Super Kings, a four-time winner, have the staff to humiliate the Royals in their own backyard.
After suffering two consecutive defeats, the Royals will be desperate to get their campaign back on track with a clinical performance against the visitors from Chennai.
For the Royals to perform well, it is imperative that the likes of Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Sanju Samson play the bat and then, on a pitch that has help for the slower bowlers, hope that Ravichandran Ashwin’s seasoned spinning duo and Yuzvendra Chahal fire.
They may be playing in their starting line-up, but the Royals can expect plenty of home team fans in the stands cheering for CSK skipper Dhoni, who is likely to appear in his last IPL season, just as it happened in Kolkata a few days ago.
Teams (of): Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & World Cup), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Sisanda Magala, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Ahay Mandal , Nishant Sindhu, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Mitchell Santner, Subharnshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Matheesa Pathirana, Mahesh Theekshana, Bhagath Verma, Prashant Solanki, Shaikh Rasheed, Tushar Deshpande.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Abdul Basith, Murugan Ashwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, KM Asif, Trent Boult, Jos Buttler, KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Donovan Ferreira, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Obed McCoy , Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Kunal Singh Rathore, Joe Root, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen, Akash Vasisht, Kuldip Yadav, Adam Zampa.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
