The Rajasthan Royals will be playing their first game of the tournament against the Chennai Super Kings. This will mark the return of Steve Smith as a full-time captain of an IPL side and this will be the first game at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. This should be a high scoring game.
Steve Smith-led RR side will go into the game sans their two main overseas players. Jos Butter won’t feature in the first game and Ben Stokes will likely miss the initial phase of the IPL. One of their main strengths is the presence of quality overseas players they will be crucial to the Rajasthan chances who have largely inexperienced Indian batsman.
CSK are coming to this game on the back of their impressive win over the defending champions MI and will start as favorites to make it 2 in 2. They are most likely to go with an unchanged team in this game as well.
Key players from both sides
Batsman – Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Sanju Samson and Steve Smith.
The player of the game Ambati Rayudu will once again be the one to watch out for. He is in great form and will look to continue on it. Shane Watson who didn’t have a great outing will find it easier to bat on the Sharjah track which is said to be on the flatter and against a weaker RR attack. Sanju Samson and Steve Smith will need to step up in the absence of Jos Butter in the batting order. The
All Rounders – Sam Curran, Tom Curran, and Ravi Jadeja.
The Curran brothers will be key of either of their respective teams in the game. Sam had a dream debut in CSK colors contributing both with the bat and ball. One might feel the younger Curran is a great addition of CSK in this tournament. Ravi Jadeja will be once again need to step up both as a spinner and a middle order batsman. Tom Curran in the absence of Stokes will have a great opportunity to show his skills. He is coming on back off a good series limited overs against Australia.
Bowlers – Piyush Chawla, Jaydev Unadkat, Deepak Chahar, and Jofra Archer.
Piyush Chawla was the pick of the bowlers for CSK in their first game with an economy rate of 5. He will hope for a similar sort of performance in the 2nd game as well. Jofra Archer and Jaydev Unadkat are the most experienced bowlers in the RR line up. Unadkat needs a good outing to prove his critics wrong and Jofra had a dream couple of games while playing for England. With Sharjah expected to do much in terms of run-scoring ease, Deepak Chahar may get some movement.
Battles to look forward
- Deepak Chahar vs Sanju Samson
- Piyush Chawla vs Steve Smith
- Jofra Archer vs Shane Watson
Shane Watson will look to make amends for his failure in the first game and look to capitalize on what is expected to be a flat track. His face-off against Jofra Archer will be keenly watched. Sanju Samson is one of most talented Indians to watch out for in this tournament and his battle with Deepak Chahar’s swing and seam can have a say in which the innings is paced by RR. We saw Steve Smith struggling against Adil Rashid in England, so Piyush Chawla will fancy his chances against him.
Head to Head between CSK and RR
- Matches Played: 22
- RR Won: 8
- CSK won: 14
Significant Approaching Milestones
1 – Yashasvi Jaiswal will most likely to make his IPL debut for RR, and Kartik Tyagi may also get a maiden cap.
93 – Faf Du Plessis requires 93 more to score 2000 IPL career runs.
63 – Ravi Jadeja requires 63 more to complete 2000 IPL career runs.
3 – Sanju Samson requires 3 more scalps behind stumps to cross 50 dismissals.
Match conditions
Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah.
Date & Timings: September 22, 2020, at 7.30 PM IST.
Weather: Clear with the temperature around 35 C.
Pitch : Sharjah is typically a good surface to bat.
Probable Playing XI
Chennai Super Kings
Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Faf Du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Kedar Jadhav, Ravi Jadeja, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi.
Rajasthan Royals
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (WK), Steve Smith (C), Robin Uthappa, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron.