While 3-time champions Chennai Super Kings won their season opener against defending champions Mumbai Indians by five wickets, 2008 IPL winners Rajasthan Royals will be playing their opening game of the tournament.
CSK And RR To Miss Out Star Players
Both the teams have been dealt with major blows ahead of the IPL 13 campaign as CSK is playing the tournament without the services of their star campaigners Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh. Meanwhile, Rajasthan won't have their star English all-rounder Ben Stokes playing the first few games as he is at New Zealand to be with his ailing father.
Rajasthan Royals would be bolstered by the fact that their skipper Steve Smith has fully recovered from concussion injury and has been cleared to play against CSK.
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A Well Rounded CSK Has Both Depth And Balance In Their Squad
Despite the pulling out Suresh Raina and Harbhajan SIngh, CSK looks to have a well settled squad with experienced campaigners like MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Faf Du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Imran Tahir and Shane Watson; who all have formed the nucleus of a highly successful side over the last couple of seasons.
CSK would come into the game high on confidence after workhorse Ambati Rayadu and Proteas import Faf Du Plessis spearheaded a spirited 163-run chase against Mumbai Indians.
CSK have one of the best spin attacks in the tournament with Imran Tahir, Piyush Chawla, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and conditions in the UAE would help their tweakers. They have depth in their seam attack with Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, Shardul Thakur and Sam Curran.
Rajasthan Royals Do Have Some Major T20 Stalwarts In Their Ranks
Rajasthan Royals do have a pretty strong team with some of the best T20 cricketers in their ranks in Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, David Miller, Oshane Thomas, Andrew Tye and Sam Curran.
RR's Indian contingent will largely revolve around the services of experienced campaigners in Robin Utappa, Sanju Samson, Jaydev Unadkat, Shreyas Gopal and Varun Aaron, all of whom need to step up their level all through the season.
The 'Royals' do have some promising youngsters in Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kartik Tyagi and Mayank Markande who could be revolved around in the playing XI in the course of the tournament.
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IPL 2020 Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings: M.S. Dhoni (captain/wicket-keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Francois Du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, K.M. Asif, Narayan Jagadeesan, Monu Kumar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, R. Sai Kishore, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran
Chennai Super Kings: M.S. Dhoni (captain/wicket-keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Francois Du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, K.M. Asif, Narayan Jagadeesan, Monu Kumar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, R. Sai Kishore, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran
Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith (captain), Ankit Rajpoot, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, MananVohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, David Miller, Oshane Thomas, Anirudha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Tom Curran