The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur would today be witness to the fixture between CSK and RR which happens to be the 43rd match of the season. This match, or shall we call it a mismatch, between two teams who have had contrasting fortunes in this year’s IPL.
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However, as far as their last game is concerned, both teams are coming off a victory. While RR won their last match against KXIP, CSK too had the wood on arch rivals RCB. While RR played a game just a couple of days back, CSK are coming off a long break of one week.
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Rajasthan would have to win this match to keep their hopes alive of qualifying to the playoffs. On the other hand, if CSK win this match, they will not only oust RR from the IPL but also pretty much stamp their boarding passes for the road to the Playoffs.
Weather Report
The temperature will be around 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon and the early part of the evening. Conditions would be dry and the humidity is expected to be less than 20%. Therefore, there are no chances of rain and the fans would be able to enjoy interrupted action.
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Pitch Report and implications
With dry conditions and the sun beating down, the pitch at Jaipur will crack up. It already showed signs of assisting spinners in Rajasthan’s last home game. This is expected to increase further. This brings good news for CSK as they have capable spinners in Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharama.
Seeing the pitch conditions, they may also go for the third spinner Imran Tahir. Ravi Jadeja also becomes an asset as soon as there is something for him in the pitch.
Head to head
In the 18 games that RR and CSK have played together, CSK has been the clear dominant force. They have won 12 games and have a win percentage of over 65 %. On the other hand, RR have only managed to win 6 games.
Squads
Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL 2018:
Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler (WK), Rahul Tripathi, D Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Ish Sodhi, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera, Ajinkya Rahane (Capt) and Heinrich Klassen.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) IPL 2018:
MS Dhoni (Capt & WK), Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur, Faf du Plessis, KM Asif, Kanishk Seth, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Karn Sharma, N Jagadeesan and David Willey.
