Chennai Super Kings eyes win in new home

A loss in its last outing has hurt both the former champion’s and they will look to get back to winning ways when they face off. With two wins and two defeats, Rajasthan Royals is fifth with four points, while Chennai has also gathered an equal number of points with two victories from three matches. It is placed fourth because of better net run rate. Both the teams were missing in action owing to a two-year ban for corruption. 

Rajasthan, under new captain Ajinkya Rahane, had a bad start to the campaign but it has done well with two back-to-back wins before Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed it by seven wickets. On a slow wicket, Rahane and Co failed to stitch partnerships and ended up with a below-par total of 160-8 on board, which KKR chased down with consummate ease, losing three wickets.

Sanju Samson has been the batting star for Rajasthan as he has scored 185 runs so far with an unbeaten 92-run innings being the highlight but he didn’t get the desired support from other batsmen. Rahane has made some useful contributions but he failed to capitalise on the starts. 

Its bowling unit, led by K Gowtham and Ben Laughlin, have done well. They sustained the onslaught by big hitters like Virat Kohli and A B de Villiers during their match against heavy-weight Royal Challengers Bangalore. But England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was bought for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore by Rajasthan, has been a big letdown and he needs to live up to the billing. 

Two-time champion Chennai, on the other hand, made a rampaging start to its campaign with back-toback wins against defending champion Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. While Dwayne Bravo came to its rescue with a 30-ball 68 against Mumbai Indians in its first match, it was Sam Billings who put the finishing touch to its superb run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders in a high-scoring match.

In its last match against Kings XI Punjab, Ambati Rayudu (49) and MS Dhoni (79) brought the Super Kings close to the victory target of 198 before falling short by four runs. Among bowlers, Shane Watson and Shardul Thakur led the pace attack for Chennai with five and three wickets respectively, while Imran Tahir did the job with his Leg-break googlies. The experienced spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja too can be a potent force.

Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals @ 8 pm on Star Sports 1, HD 1