Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings will play their 23rd match today at Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
In this clash between the two teams at the bottom of the table, the team which loses will most probably be out of the tournament. So far, CSK, as well as RR, have won only 3 out of the 9 matches they have played.
Match Details
Rajasthan Royals (RR) VS Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Match 37, IPL 2020, 18:00 Local time, 19:30 IST.
Television Broadcast India: Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports Select, and Star Sports Select HD
Live Streaming: Disney+Hotstar
Head to Head
Chennai Super Kings have dominated this rivalry by winning 14 matches out of the 22 matches played so far.
Overall, CSK has won 63% of matches against RR. If we talk about their encounters in 2018 & 2019, CSK won 3 out of the 4 matches.
In the first leg match this year, RR defeated CSK by 16 runs in the fourth match of the tournament.
Squads
Top Performers in RR and CSK
RR:
S Smith: The RR Captain broke the jinx after 6 back-to-back failures. He scored 57 runs off 36 balls against RCB. In the first leg match against CSK, he had scored 69 runs off 47 balls to help his team post a big total. Overall, his return to form is good news for RR. His batting position of number 4, despite losing the match against RCB, makes the RR batting line up look much more stable.
R Uthappa: He finally managed to play a good knock for RR this season against RCB. The decision to make him open the innings should have been taken much sooner. Nonetheless, a late decision is still better than no decision. He scored 42 runs off just 22 balls against RCB and if he can manage to do something similar against CSK, it could lead to an exciting contest.
J Archer: He had a rare off-day in the match against RCB and was taken for runs, but one can't blame the bowlers at Sharjah. The beating that he took against RCB scarred his bowling economy rate a little - from 6.56 before the match to 6.95 after it! He still remains RR's best bowler.
S Samson: He was instrumental in RR's win against CSK with a bashing spree of 74 runs off 32 balls in that match. He has struggled to get going in this tournament thereafter though. If he can get his touch back again, we surely will be treated to some beautiful cricketing shots.
J Buttler: Like S Smith, Buttler also batted down the order for RR in the previous match. For some reason he has found it difficult to get acclimatised to the conditions in UAE. He has struggled to score runs for RR, and if we remove his 70 off 44 balls against MI, he has scored only 122 runs in the remaining seven matches. He wasn't part of the team that defeated CSK in the first leg match.
CSK:
MS Dhoni: Dhoni the batsman looked decent with the bat in the first 4 matches but has struggled after that. In the last 5 innings, he has managed to score only 45 runs. The beloved Thala of Chennai along with his team has had a disappointing season.
A Rayudu: He is slowly returning to his best and is doing a decent job for CSK in the middle order. In the previous match against RCB, he scored 45 runs off just 22 balls. Being amongst the runs wasn't an issue for Rayudu but, his strike rate was what he improved in the match against DC.
S Watson: He has been a very effective player for CSK, whenever he scores runs it more often than not helps his team win the match. He started slow this year but has looked in good touch ever since he scored 83* against KXIP. In the previous match against DC, he scored 36 runs.
Faf du Plessis: He is the top scorer for CSK in this year, he has played some amazing innings this season for his team. He was once again the top scorer for CSK in the match against DC. Overall, he has scored 365 runs for CSK at a strike rate of 142.57 and average of 52.14. Against RR in the first leg match, he was the top scorer.
Likely Playing 11
CSK:
Sam Curran, Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (C)(WK), K Jadhav, D Chahar, S Thakur, K Sharma/Piyush Chawla and L Ngidi/ D Bravo.
RR:
Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Steve Smith (C), Jos Buttler (WK), R Parag, Rahul Tewatia, J Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Kartik Tyagi and A Rajpoot.
Players to Watch For
R Tewatia (RR): He has played match-winning innings in 2 out of 3 matches that RR have won this year. He was also RR's best bowler versus RCB. He had also picked up 3 wickets against CSK in the first leg.
B Stokes (RR): The English all-rounder is an extremely important player for the team. So far he hasn't played a major role for his team but today might well be his day.
S Curran (CSK): He has played a few attractive cameos for CSK in the tournament. He had picked up 3 wickets for CSK in the first leg match against RR. Although he failed to score runs with the bat against DC, he should continue batting at number 1 position for CSK.
D Chahar (CSK): He bowled outstandingly well in the match against RCB. While other bowlers were taken to the cleaners, he picked up 2 wickets and gave away only 18 runs in his quota of 4 overs.
In this do or die match, it is extremely difficult to choose the winner. I wouldn't want to pick a side in today's match because both the teams look strong on paper but are faltering on the field.