Chennai Super Kings are all set to lock horns with Rajasthan Royals after a thumping victory against Kolkata Knight Riders. It was an AnBuDen day as the Whistlepodu went totally with the plan and gave some of the early jolts to the team. Kolkata Knight Riders were falling like a card but then came the one man army, the undisputed, unbreakable and the unstoppable Andre Russell, who scored a half-century despite ankle pain, which went in vain. Why? Because Captain Cool and Mastermind MS Dhoni was behind the wicket. MS Dhoni being a captain led the side with over to over discussion with the bowlers.
On the other side, after opening a winning account against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals are again going on the path of loses, as they lost their last battle against Kolkata Knight Riders only. Jos Buttler is the big fish for Rajasthan Royals, especially in the absence of Sanju Samson, who began his season with a tremendous form against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an order to join the century club with David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Sanju Samson and KL Rahul. Likewise, Chennai Super Kings have a balanced side despite absence of Dwayne Bravo, the Indies All-Rounder.
Meanwhile, the eyes will be on Faf Du Plesis as the South African batsman has given a strong hold in the top order, but Ambati Rayudu needs to lift up his form in an order to give middle order a hold and to ease the pressure from MS Dhoni. The match is scheduled to be played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, which is a batting-friendly pitch but spinners will get a bit of assistance from the pitch. Krishnappa Gowtham has not been an affective bowler and hence he might get replace with Mahipal Lomror. Meanwhile, CSK is on winning cart and since there is no update on DJ Bravo’s injury the Whistlepodu might go unchanged against the hosts, the Pink Army.
Predicted XI:
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Smith, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Prashant Chopra, Krishnappa Gowtham/Mahipal Lomror, Sudhesan Midhun, Dhawal Kulkarni
Chennai Super Kings:Shane Watson, Faf Du Plesis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Kedar Jadhav, Scott Kuggleijn, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals:Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S. Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas, Shashank Singh, Liam Livinstone, Shubham Rajane, Manan Vohra, Ashton Turner, Riyan Parag
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Dhruv Shorey, Faf du Plessis, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Billings, Mitchell Santner, David Willey, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Imran Tahir, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, N Jagadeesan, Shardul Thakur, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Mohit Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Scott Kuggleijn
