Chennai Super Kings host the Rajasthan Royals as both teams look for their 3rd win

CSK face RR at the Chepauk stadium for match no 17 in the IPL

(Cricket news) Playing at Chepauk gives CSK an advantage, but RR have the resources to neutralise their home advantage. After a close loss to Punjab Kings, the Royals beat DC quite comprehensively. The RR batters have been in terrific form and have posted 190-plus totals in all three games this season. On the bowling front, Trent Boult is picking up wickets with the new-ball but perhaps their biggest trump card in these conditions will be their spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin, who is subsequently the highest wicket-taker at this venue in IPL history.

MS Dhoni’s team has the best home record in IPL history as they’ve won 41 of their 57 home games in the IPL, which is nearly 72%. Their win against Mumbai Indians showed how strong their batting lineup is but the main concern remains is their struggling seam bowlers as young players have done well but have conceded a lot of runs. With Chepauk offering a lot of help for the spinner we can expect the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner to play a crucial role. Maheesh Theekshana could possibly return to their XI as he can be the X factor in the team.

CSK

Deepak Chahar will be out with a hamstring injury along with Ben Stoke. If CSK want to play Theekshana they have to bench one of the South African seamers. Ajinkya Rahane will retain his place after his 27-ball 61 against Mumbai. Batting first, they can name three overseas players initially and then bring in either Theekshana or Sisanda Magala in the second innings as the Impact Player. Batting second, they will swap out a fast bowler or a Indian spinner for a batter.

Probable bat-first XI: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane/Moeen Ali, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 9 Mitchell Santner, 10 Maheesh Theekshana/Simarjeet Singh, 11 Tushar Deshpande.

Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane/Moeen Ali, 4 Shivam Dube, 5 Ravindra Jadeja, 6 Dwaine Pretorius, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Sisanda Magala/Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Simarjeet Singh, 11 Tushar Deshpande.

Dhruv Jurel has been RR’s Impact Player in all the matches but if they bowl first they can make the youngster sit for either Sandeep Sharma or Murugan Ashwin.

Probable bat-first XI: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Dhruv Jurel, 7 Jason Holder, 8 R Ashwin, 9 M Ashwin, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.

Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Jason Holder, 7 R Ashwin, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Sandeep Sharma/KM Asif.

Also read: Mumbai Indians should be encouraged by Rohit Sharma’s form: Ravi Shastri