Preview
Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings meet in a mid-table tussle on Monday after a hectic last week. Given the unassuming, threatening presence of Jofra Archer, there is only one way this game is going unless Chennai can manufacture something extraordinary from their top-order batsmen. The likes of Shane Watson, Sam Curran, Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis will have to counter the powerplay barrage while scoring quickly.
Chennai, however, have bowled well this season and have been good at choking teams in the middle overs phase with their spinners. Rajasthan are starting to look threatening on this front with Kartik Tyagi shining through alongside Archer.
Chennai’s batting, though, is a concern now that Sam Curran has had his first duck when opening the batting. Their start last game was less than ideal too but Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu offer much hope in the middle-order.
Team news and predicted XI
Rajasthan Royals will likely put an end to the Jaydev Unadkat experiment after the tonking from AB de Villiers last game. They will look to bring in a like-for-like replacement in Akash Singh unless they want to spice things up further by using a third leggie in Mayank Markande.
CSK, on the other hand, have injury concerns with Dwayne Bravo out. They will need to decide if they want an extra pacer or spinner in their team and act accordingly – Imran Tahir or Lungi Ngidi or Josh Hazlewood will be a choice they need to make. They might have MS Dhoni down the order but the skipper is yet to fire when it matters. Sam Curran and Shane Watson will remain key players for them for this game.
Predicted XI
Chennai Super Kings
Sam Curran, Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C, wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav/Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi
Rajasthan Royals
Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Steve Smith (C), Jos Buttler (wk), Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat/Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi
Fantasy tips
- Shane Watson has looked in good touch and might just come good big time. Gamble on him as a captain.
- The surfaces have become slower, so banking on spinners is ideally a good option. That said, no one is really enticing enough so Archer and Deepak Chahar alongside Kartik Tyagi are good picks.
- Sam Curran, Archer, Du Plessis, Buttler and Rayudu are must picks for this game.
- MS Dhoni can still making enough runs to give your fantasy team a decent total but Buttler is the better pick here.
- Ben Stokes is as dangerous as anybody on this wicket and is a must pick.
Fantasy XI
Jos Buttler
Faf du Plessis
Shane Watson
Ambati Rayudu
Riyan Parag
Ben Stokes
Sam Curran
Rahul Tewatia
Jofra Archer
Kartik Tyagi
Deepak Chahar
