Crucial two points at stake as Rajasthan Royals take on Chennai Super Kings

In the battle of the two teams at the bottom of the league table, the two finalists of the inaugural edition of the IPL will be facing each other in a bid to rescue their season from the doldrums. The Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals have struggled to string wins together and will be hoping to give one final push towards a place in the playoffs, one that will require immense effort from the position they both find themselves in currently.

The Rajasthan Royals batting has finally hit its sweet spot, getting their batting order right. Steve Smith appeared much more at home batting at Number four, as did Robin Uthappa opening the innings. Steve Smith was back to his innovative best, pulling out the sweeps and reverse sweeps, executing them to perfection. The move to the top of the batting order seemed to have freed up Robin Uthappa who batted with much more confidence and authority up the order. Rahul Tewatia continued to impress, and the total of 177 they managed against RCB was a combined effort with all the players contributing to the cause, none looking out of their depths batting in unfamiliar territory.

Death overs bowling will continue to give the Royals sleepless nights. Except for an AB de Villiers blitz at the death, the Royals were ahead of the game. If the Royals will need to plug the leak at the death, a string of strong performances might well be on the cards. Kartik Tyagi has been a real find for the Royals. Even in the last game against RCB, the quickie bowled pressure overs and gave no sense that he is just 19 years old. It has been the experienced hand of Jaydev Unadkat who has been a source of concern for the Royals, who has not had the desired impact on their bowling performances.

The Chennai Super Kings much like their opponents for the night had a good batting performance, with every player fulfilling their roles and playing to their potential in their previous game. Faf Du Plessis and Shane Watson gave them the base they needed after Sam Curran was dismissed for a duck; Rayudu paced his innings perfectly between the middle overs and the death overs, and Ravindra Jadeja performed the role of a finisher to perfection. 

However, it was their fielding which let them down. The Man of the match, Shikhar Dhawan was spilled multiple times en route to his first-ever IPL century. Deepak Chahar was impressive with the new ball, and MS Dhoni in his post-match talk seemed to be please with Sam Curran’s progress as a death bowler landing the wide yorkers at will now. However, the injury to Dwayne Bravo will further complicate matters for the Super Kings who will now need to find the right balance keeping in mind they wherever they bring in will not give the exact same balance as Bravo does.

The previous time these two teams met, a Sanju Samson six-fest at Sharjah gave the Royals a 16-run victory. However, the Super Kings will be keen to exact revenge on a much larger outfield in Abu Dhabi. Away from the comforts of Sharjah, the Royals have won only once in six attempts, losing both their games at Abu Dhabi. With only five rounds of games left, a win is a necessity for either of these teams to harbor any hopes of a top 4 finish.