The match 25 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 will be going to take place between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Thursday, April 11.
Having lost their previous game at home against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the Royals led by Ajinkya Rahane will look to come back strongly in this encounter against M.S. Dhoni and boys.
For Chennai, the bowling is a bit of a worry in the absence of the injured Dwayne Bravo, but the others have combined well with Deepak Chahar showing great ability in Tuesday’s match against KKR.
MS Dhoni‘s special knock had come to the Rajasthan’s rescue then and their top-order has to bat more cautiously this time around. CSK won their previous game against the KKR at home on a slow turner but the pitch in Jaipur will be completely different.
The pitch was a bit sluggish in the previous encounter as the home team huffed and puffed to 139 runs. It got easy to bat on later in the second innings. The surface might have affected due to the sandstorm which arrived just before the game as well. It should a better pitch this time around.
Sanju Samson missed out to play in last two matches and is expected to be fit by now.
RR Team (from): Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler, Steven Smith, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Ish Sodhi, Varun Aaron, Shashank Singh, Liam Livingstone, Shubham Ranjane, Ashton Turner, Riyan Parag, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Sudhesan Midhun, Aryaman Birla, Manan Vohra, Prashant Chopra
Probable XI: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Steve Smith, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Krishnappa Gowtham, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni.
Sam Billings might replace Shane Watson against Rajasthan Royals.
CSK Team (From): Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Murali Vijay, Dhruv Shorey, Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mitchell Santner, Sam Billings, N Jagadeesan, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Monu Kumar, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Mohit Sharma.
Probable XI: Sam Billings, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (c)(wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Scott Kuggeleijn.
Wicketkeeper: In wicketkeeping, both Jos Buttler and MS Dhoni are the right picks.
Batsmen: For RR, skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson (if playing) and Steve Smith are the in-form batsmen while for CSK, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu and Sam Billings are expected to do the destruction.
All-rounders: Ben Stokes and Krishnappa Gowtham will be featuring as all-rounders from RR while CSK will feature Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav as their prime all-rounders.
Bowlers: For RR, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal and Jofra Archer are the top picks among bowlers while for CSK, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir should be the key bowlers.
Captain and Vice Captain: Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler, Faf du Plessis and Sam Billings are the top picks for captain and vice captain.
IPL 2019, RR vs CSK preview: Rajasthan face litmus test against Chennai
Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Jos Buttler, Faf du Plessis (c), Sam Billings, Steve Smith, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ben Stokes, Imran Tahir, Jofra Archer and Deepak Chahar.
Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler (c), Faf du Plessis, Sam Billings (vc), Sanju Samson, MS Dhoni (wk), Shreyas Gopal, Kedar Jadhav, Imran Tahir, Jofra Archer and Scott Kuggeleijn.