Rajasthan Royals will begin their IPL 2020 campaign against Chennai Super Kings today. The latter will have a slight advantage after winning their first match of the season against the defending champions Mumbai Indians.
Chennai Super Kings
In the absence of Suresh Raina, Chennai Super Kings needed an able batter to fill in his place. Rayudu did the job perfectly in the first fixture of CSK. He ended up as the highest scorer of the match with a 48-ball 71. He built the innings, gave the middle-order stability that it required after quick dismissals of two openers. Suresh Raina used to be an integral part of the CSK line-up and at No. 4 Raina brought dependability. If Rayudu continues to showcase the same in this match too, CSK would probably start relying on him and not miss Raina much.
Sam Curran was included in the combination in place of Dwayne Bravo and he gave his 100%. At first, he bowled well to pick up one major wicket of Mumbai Indians and then was lifted up in the batting order by Dhoni during the chase. His cameo of 18 runs off six balls helped to escalate the CSK scoreboard. The left-handed batter and the left-arm medium-fast bowler could be a trump card for Chennai Super Kings in the long run. Especially as the average age of the CSK team is a matter of concern, Curran’s rising to the occasion can be beneficial.
Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals will hit the ground today without Jos Buttler. While this is not great news for them, this seems to be a great opportunity for Yashasvi Jaiswal and Robin Uthappa. With Buttler’s availability both have to fight for the second opener’s slot. But his unavailability means Jaiswal and Uthappa will be opening the batting for Rajasthan Royals. Both will get to showcase their mettle today which will in long run help the Royals to fix their line-up. The battle between the youngster and the veteran is going to be interesting.
Jofra Archer will have the major responsibility of giving early breakthroughs and containing the CSK middle order. We have already got an idea of what CSK middle order is capable of in the first IPL 2020 match. The openers were removed within the second over, the onus was completely on Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu. They carried the innings and how! Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja are yet to come in the form. Archer will be leading the Royals bowling attack and as quickly as he manages to send them all back will make the game easier for Rajasthan Royals.
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