Sharjah The Chennai Super Kings, who beat defending champions Mumbai Indians in their first match of the 13th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), will face Rajasthan Royals in their second match on Tuesday. CSK, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will try its best to win the second match as well.
This is the first match of the Royals captained by Steve Smith this season and she would like to start with a win too.
Looking at Chennai’s performance against Mumbai, the Royals’ team management will definitely want something extra from their players as CSK have so far dominated every season of the IPL and this time too they got a great start.
Chennai started the season without their two experienced players like Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh. Ambati Rayudu (71) and Faf du Plessis (58 not out) gave the team victory by playing excellent innings.
Even after the shaking by Mumbai bowlers in the early overs, Rayudu and du Plessis took over the team and did not allow Mumbai bowlers to walk in the UAE conditions.
Murali Vijay and Shane Watson started the innings against Mumbai but both were dismissed early. The pair would like to flash their bat against the Royals, forgetting the previous match. Sam Quraine was promoted by Dhoni and Quran justified him by scoring 18 runs off six balls.
The Chennai batting seems stable, so the bowlers did not disappoint in the first match. Mumbai’s opening pair Rohit Sharma – Quinton de Kock and then Sourav Tiwary – were bowled well by the bowlers in the early overs, taking wickets at regular intervals.
The Chennai bowlers had ensured that Mumbai could not score big and had played a big role in Chennai’s five-wicket win. Piyush Chawla may not be considered important in the Chennai team but used his experience in this 31-year-old leg-spinner and bowled brilliantly and took just one wicket, spending just 21 runs in four overs.
Similarly Lungi Ngidi, Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar also played their role when needed, but the team management of Chennai would clearly want the trio not to score runs as in the first match.
Talking of Royals, he has never won the trophy except for the first season of IPL 2008. Looking at the 2020 season, the Royals have brought some big T20 players into their squad.
With Robin Uthappa, Shreyas Gopal and Varun Aaron, the royals have tried to create a good mix of youth and experience, along with youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ryan Parag and Karthik Tyagi.
Along with Ben Stokes and Smith, the Royals have added some top level players. However, Stokes is not sure about playing in the first match.
The Royals will expect opener Jose Butler to continue his form of the 2019 IPL this season as well. Last season, Butler scored 311 runs in eight matches. The Royals will be expected to bat aggressively from England’s Butler. Butler if he gets the support of Sanju Samson, he can lead the team to a big score.
The biggest concern for the Royals’ team management will be the absence of Stokes, who is currently with his father in New Zealand and when he will arrive, the situation is still unclear. The team will depend to a large extent on Stokes and the sooner they join the team, the better it will be for them.
With Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Ankit Rajput, Rahul Tewatia, Mayong Markande, Oshane Thomas and Andrew Tye, the team has good bowling options. Much will depend on how quickly these people adjust to the UAE situation.
If we look at the previous matches between these two teams, Chennai has definitely had a heavy weight. Chennai have won 14 of the total 21 matches between the two teams, and the remaining matches have been won by the Royals.
Given the current conditions, any team can win the match on Tuesday.
Teams (Probable): –
Chennai Super Kings – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Dwyane Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Nagidi, Mitchell Santner , KM Asif, Narayan Jagadishan, Monu Kumar, Rituraj Gaikwad, R.K. Sai Kishore, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran.
Rajasthan Royals – Steve Smith (Captain), Ankit Rajput, Ben Stokes, Joffra Archer, Jose Butler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Ryan Parag, Sanju Samson, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Robin Uthappa , Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Akash Singh, Karthik Tyagi, David Miller, Oshane Thomas, Anirudh Joshi, Andrew Tye, Tom Kurain.
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