IPL 2020: Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals Preview – Do or Die for Both Teams

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will clash with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in match 37 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Abu Dhabi on the 19th of October. Both the teams would be desperate for a win – they have both lost 6 of the 9 matches they have played in the tournament.

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Sanju Samson’s breathtaking 32- ball 74 and skipper, Steven Smith’s 47-ball 69 helped RR to a massive 216 for 7 in Sharjah – the first time they faced CSK in IPL 2020. CSK were in the chase courtesy a 37-ball 72 from Faf du Plessis but some strange tactics from MS Dhoni saw them going down by 16 runs.

Chennai Super Kings

Not all is well in the CSK camp. They could not defend 17 off the last over against the Capitals in Sharjah. The batting clicked in the last match but some of the bowling was disappointing. Ravindra Jadeja has been tonked for a few in the tournament as his economy rate of 9.46 indicates. The biggest blow for CSK is the groin injury to Dwayne Bravo which will see him out of action for a couple of weeks – he is their leading wicket-taker in the IPL and a specialist in the death overs.

While Faf du Plessis has been in terrific form with the bat and is amongst the best batsmen of the tournament so far, the performance of most of the other CSK batsmen has been below par. Shane Watson has a strike rate of just 123.11 in this edition. The biggest disappointment has been the performance of skipper, MS Dhoni – he has just scored 136 runs in 8 innings at a strike rate of 132.03 – for a lower middle-order batsman these are poor numbers.

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Rajasthan Royals

RR have lost their last couple of matches – there have been some fine individual performances but they are not gelling as a unit. The biggest positive for them in the last match was the return to form of Robin Uthappa – he had been moved to open the innings. Their biggest worry, however, remains the form of Sanju Samson. After starting the tournament with two scintillating performances in Sharjah, the talented Indian batsman has completely faded out – he has registered scores of 8, 4,0, 5, 26, 25 and 9 in the last 7 matches. Ben Stokes needs to live up to his reputation and try and score at a faster rate at the top of the order – his strike rate of 101.66 in the competition so far is pretty ordinary.

Rahul Tewatia has been the find of the tournament for RR. He has produced a few cameos and is not only the second-highest scorer for them in IPL 2020 but also the second-highest wicket-taker. He has also been very restrictive with an economy rate of 7.81. Jofra Archer is RR’s main weapon with the ball – he is their leading wicket-taker with 12 wickets and also their most economical bowler giving away just 6.95 runs per over.

WHAT: IPL 2020, Match 37

WHEN: October 19, 7:30PM IST

WHERE: Abu Dhabi

TELECAST: Star Sports Network

LIVE STREAMING: Disney + Hotstar

Predicted XI

Chennai Super Kings - Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, Josh Hazlewood

Rajasthan Royals - Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Steven Smith, Shreyas Gopal, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Tewatia, Kartik Tyagi

• Ben Stokes
• chennai super kings
• CSK vs RR
• ipl
• ipl 2020
• MS Dhoni
• Rajasthan Royals
• steve smith