Back to winning ways after a hat-trick of defeats, a desperate Rajasthan Royals face a herculean task when they take on mighty Chennai Super Kings in a must-win match in Jaipur on Friday.

Three consecutive defeats have more or less sealed their fate but Royals somehow managed to keep themselves afloat with a 15-run win over Kings XI Punjab in their last game at home.

But for things to turn around for the Royals, every aspect of their game needs to improve and click for them in the remaining four games.

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The Rajasthan outfit haven’t had the best of campaigns so far this season and are placed sixth with just eight points from 10 games. Standing precariously, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side need to win pretty much all their remaining games to keep alive their play-off chances. A defeat will spell an end to their hopes.

The Royals are back on their home turf, where they have recorded three of their four victories and this might work for them going into this crucial game.

Royals were badly hurt by the lackluster performance of their batsmen and bowlers this season. Average performance by captain Rahane, inconsistencies of Sanju Samson and a below-par show of star English all-rounder Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi has hurt Royals badly and the hosts need its batting unit to fire in unison against the formidable CSK.

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English wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler came to Royals’ rescue in their last match smashing a 58-ball 82 to take the hosts to 158 for eight, a target which their bowlers defended, thanks to impressive performances from Krishnappa Gowtham, Kiwi spinner Ish Sodhi and Jofra Archer.

CSK, on the other hand, are sitting pretty at the second spot with 14 points from 10 games and a win from their remaining four games would be enough to seal their place in the play-offs.

Their batsmen are raking in the runs but bowling still remains a concern for CSK, despite a fine performance against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game.

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CSK bowlers finally came to the party on May 5, restricting RCB to 127 for nine, a target which they chased down with six wickets in hand. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/18) and veteran Harbhajan Singh (2/22) were the wreckers-in-chief for CSK against RCB.

However, the pace trio of Lungi Ngidi, David Willey and Shardul Thakur need to take up more responsibility upfront in the absence of injured Deepak Chahar.

The Chennai batsmen, though, are on song and most are among runs with Ambati Rayudu, Australian Shane Watson, West Indian Dwayne Bravo, skipper Dhoni and Suresh Raina all contributing when the team needed them.

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Rayudu, especially, has batted well both as an opener and at number four, and has been close to the top of the run-scorers chart consistently, with 423 runs from 10 games. Skipper Dhoni, on his part, has reminded his critics that he is not past his prime with his trademark towering sixes.

Head to Head

Overall: 18
Rajasthan Royals: 6
Chennai Super Kings won: 12

Trivia

  •   Dhoni has 360 runs to his name that include three half-centuries with 79 not out being the highest, also his best IPL score. He is also on top of the six-hitters list.  
  •   Rajasthan Royals’ spinners have been the most economical in IPL 2018 with a rate of 7.30 – the best in the tournament.  
  • In the first match between the two teams this season, Shane Watson had scored a blistering century taking CSK to 204-5 

Squads

Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera, Heinrich Klaasen, Ish Sodhi.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Kanishk Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan, David Willey.