A promising Rajasthan Royals unit will look to get their IPL 2020 campaign off to a winning start when they take on Chennai Super Kings at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. CSK made early gains in the tournament with a five-wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians but come Tuesday, they’ll face a stiff challenge in the form of the Royals. Last season they finished second from bottom, but things appear different for them this time around, in a positive way of course, with heavyweights such as Steve Smith, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler up their ranks.

The Royals appear to have the perfect blend of youth and experience with veterans Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat and youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag. The likes of Jaiswal and Parag have been highly spoken of in the Indian domestic circuit and in the company of David Miller and all-rounder Tom Curran, the Royals are a force to reckon with. They would need all that force to stop three-time winner CSK who triggered an early warning to all seven IPL opponents by outclassing an IPL favourite the other evening.

READ | IPL 2020, Rajasthan Royals Predicted XI: Steve Smith set to make a return

They may not have too many youngsters, but why even need it when the experience is delivering the goods for them. Piyush Chawla put the brakes on scoring and Faf du Plessis was like a ninja at the boundary.  

Ambati Rayudu proved how big a mistake the Indian selectors made when they did not include him in their 2019 World Cup squad. Rest assured, CSK will give Royals an early test, which could only bode well for Smith and his team.

IPL 2020, RR vs CSK Live Streaming: When and where to watch

Team News

Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler has confirmed his unavailability for Royals’ opening match which could mean that Robin Uthappa may open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal, likely to be followed by Samson, Smith, Miller and Curran in the middle order. The Royals might like to bank on Parag and Shreyas Gopal to handle spin, while 19-year-old Kartik Tyagi, Jofra Archer and Jaydev Unadkat are expected to take care of the pace attack.

Probable XI: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Sanju Samson (Wk), 4 Steve Smith (C), 5 David Miller, 6 Tom Curran, 7 Riyan Parag, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Jaydev Unadkat

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad is said to have returned negative results in both Covid-19 tests he had undergone. He is likely to be given a look in, perhaps in place of Murali Vijay, who could be dropped to accommodate Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis at the top. With Dwayne Bravo yet to recover from his injury, Sam Curran will be up against his brother Tom in the opposite camp.

Probable XI: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Stats and Trivia

– In the last five matches between the two sides, CSK have beaten RR 4-1.

– Watson needs 43 runs to complete 1000 IPL runs for CSK, while Rayudu is 45 away from the feat.

– Five times Jadeja has dismissed Smith in IPL, the most by any bowler.