What

The Chennai Super Kings will play the first in a series of four consecutive away matches when they take on Rajasthan Royals in Match 25 of VIVO IPL 2019.

CSK have five wins from six matches and are placed at the top of the standings, while the Rajasthan Royals languish closer to the floor of the table. The Royals have just one win from their five matches, and desperately need to turn around their season.

The only team the Rajasthan Royals have defeated so far is the one below them in the standings – the winless Royal Challengers Bangalore; even in that match, RR prevailed with one ball to spare. In their most recent outing – against Kolkata Knight Riders at home, the Royals batsmen struggled to come to terms with the wicket and crawled to 139-3, which the visitors chased down in 13.5 overs.

The Royals have problems to address – a few of them, and they need to address them immediately – before the majority of their World Cup-bound overseas players pack up. Skipper Ajinkya Rahanewas expected to be the anchor of the team’s batting, but he has managed 124 runs in five hits – 70 of those coming in one knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sanju Samson, who scored the first hundred of the season, has missed the last couple of matches because of injury. Ben Stokes has had a disappointing season with both bat and ball.

On the bowling front, the leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal is among the top wicket-takers this season, but there has been little from the rest. The Rajasthan Royals’ pace bowling attack has the poorest economy rate among all the teams; even someone as experienced as Stokes has been taken for 10.84 runs per over, while the new ball bowler Dhawal Kulkarni has conceded runs at 9.65 rpo.

The Chennai Super Kings have ten points on the board despite not playing their best cricket. The Super Kings’ management must be worried about Ambati Rayudu’s form, and need to plan extensively to cover for the injury to Dwayne Bravo. MS Dhoni and co. have excelled playing at home – even if the conditions haven’t been to their complete liking; they now face the challenge of having to adapt – team combination-wise and strategy-wise – to the different conditions they will find on the road.

When

11 April 2019, 8pm IST

Where

Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Previous Match XIs:

Rajasthan Royals:Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Prashant Chopra, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, S Midhun, Dhawal Kulkarni.

Chennai Super Kings:Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Scott Kuggeleijn, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir.

Protagonists

Jos Buttler and Steve Smith are the Rajasthan Royals’ two top run-getters this season. The numbers are a result of consistent performances; Buttler has had three good hits this season, while Smith’s scores have progressively become better. The Royals will expect Buttlerto provide ignition, and hope Smith can bat deep and provide the flourish at the end.

For CSK, Faf du Plessis has looked impressive in his two hits; the South African made 54 against Kings XI Punjab, and then scored a patient-yet-crucial 43 in the tricky run-chase against KKR. Given the big boundaries at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, the batsmen will also focus on running hard between the wickets and aim to pick up as many twos as possible.

Dew will once again be a huge factor, and therefore the performance of the spinners in both the sides could have a huge bearing on the match. Harbhajan Singh, despite bowling beautifully in the previous match, could make way for a third quick, while given CSK’s perceived weakness against spin, Shreyas Gopal will look to add to his tally.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 20,Rajasthan Royals – 7, Chennai Super Kings–13.

When these two teams met in Chennai in Match 12, MS Dhoni did the Dhoni-thing in the last three overs of the CSK innings and propelled his team to 175-5. The Rajasthan Royals got off to a disastrous start and despite Ben Stokes’ 26-ball 46 could only get as far as 167-8.

Trivia

MS Dhoni has won 99 matches as captain in the IPL.

The Rajasthan Royals have a 20-5 win-loss record in run-chases at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.