After winning their previous encounter with bowling brilliance, Chennai and Rajasthan lock horns in Mumbai for the first clash of this week.
Match Timings: April 19, 7:30 PM IST
Team Preview
Rajasthan and Chennai both lost their first game but came back stronger with a clinical victory against Delhi and Punjab respectively. On a track like Mumbai, both sides showcased brilliant bowing display in the powerplay and early damage helped them to restrict the opposition on a mere total.
Rajasthan struggled while chasing and at one stage, the game was out of control. David Miller made his comeback after 14 matches and scored a fine half-century under pressure. He has solved the middle-order issue for Rajasthan. Chris Morris’ finish, in the end, did wonder for Rajasthan and Sanga would be happy after seeing new match-winners in the side. Jaydev Unadkat was the real hero of the previous match who bagged three wickets with the new ball and send Delhi’s top-order into the pavilion.
Samson’s captaincy looked impressive and he used his bowlers according to the plan. Unadkat is effective with the new ball so he bowled all four overs in one spell. Shreyas Gopal was replaced by Unadkat and it allowed Rajasthan to take control of the game through pace. The pace-attack is strong and they have to figure out the 5th bowling option. Riyan Parag and Tewatia are doing that job. Rajasthan are the confident and fearless side who can counter Chennai like they did in the previous season.
Meanwhile, Chennai had a similar story at Wankhede in their last game against Punjab. Deepak Chahar’s opening spell put Chennai on the driver’s seat and Punjab didn’t recover after the early damage. Chennai bowlers restricted them on just 106 and chased it down with 6 wickets in hand. They struggled while chasing and lost four wickets which was not a good thing in the end. With this approach, they can struggle if they will chase 150 or more in the next games.
Dhoni’s faith in his squad was good after losing the opening game as he didn’t make any change in the squad. Bravo retained his place and Chennai will go ahead with the winning XI for this match. Changes will happen soon when Chennai will complete their Mumbai leg. Chennai have a strong batting unit and Plessis got runs in the last game which is a good sign but Gaikwad has to score in this game. If he doesn’t, Uthappa might be seen playing at the top. It should be a cracking contest and toss will decide the outcome.
Pitch Report
Mumbai’s surface is slightly changed and it allows pacers to dominate the game. The team will try to add one extra seamer. Batting against the new ball will be tough and chasing a big score would be tricky here.
Possible XI
Chennai
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar
Rajasthan
Manan Vohra, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), David Miller, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
Key Players
Chennai
Moeen Ali
Handy with the bat and ball, showed impact in the first two games
Deepak Chahar
Quite effective with the new ball and can swing the ball in powerplay
Rajasthan
Sanju Samson
Hard-hitter and Wankhede suits his style
David Miller
International T20 form was excellent, scored 50 in his first game under pressure
