Rajasthan include Klaasen, Binny and bowl; Raina returns for CSK

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to field first against Chennai Super at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, which is the new home ground of the Super Kings.

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to field first against Chennai Super at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, which is the new home ground of the Super Kings.

The biggest relief for CSK fans was to see MS Dhoni walk up for the toss after there were speculations that he might not take the field due to a back injury.

Dhoni kept everyone guessing whether he will take the gloves or not. “I can tell you more about it in three and a half hours time,” said the CSK captain at toss time.

Dhoni also confirmed that vice-captain Suresh Raina has recovered from his calf injury and has replaced Murali Vijay in the playing XI. There was one eye-brow raising change in the spin department with veteran Harbhajan Singh making way for leggie Karn Sharma.

Rajasthan on the other hand made two changes to their playing XI. They finally ran out of patience after persisting with D’arcy Short for four matches and decided to try out South African keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen. Dhawal Kulkarni has replaced by Stuart Binny, who will also play his first match of the season.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Stuart Binny, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Laughlin