CSK vs RR: The two formerly banned teams will face-off after two years

The two-time IPL champions, Chennai Super Kings, will lock horns with the inaugural IPL champions, Rajasthan Royals, for the 17th match of this IPL season. Both teams have an excellent head to head record against each other; overall CSK won 11 and RR won 7 out of 18 matches.

Both the teams are looking to recover from defeats. While CSK lost against the Kings XI Punjab in Mohali a few nights back, the Rajasthan Royals were beaten comprehensively by the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders last. It’s however not a desperate situation for either of the two teams at this stage as they have a couple of victories under their belt and they are in a decent position in the points table.

Chennai Super Kings:

Source: Cricbuzz.com

MS Dhoni batted through a back injury in their previous match against Kings XI Punjab, but he trained with the team on the eve of the game against Royals.

Raina, who had missed CSK’s previous match because of a calf injury, also resumed training and could return to the team on Friday.

David Willey, who was Kedar Jadhav’s replacement player for CSK, was seen bowling extensively in the nets on match eve, David Willey or Mark Wood could replace one of the Indian seamers and if that happens, Imran Tahir will have to make way for Karn Sharma.

Rajasthan Royals:

Source: NDTV Sports

Like Short, Ben Laughlin has fared poorly, going at 10.39 runs an over. 

Royals have a potential replacement in Jofra Archer, although it isn’t clear yet if he has recovered from the side strain that kept him out of much of the Pakistan Super League and the start of the Indian Premier League.

Team Head to Head

Overall: Matches – 17, Chennai Super Kings won – 11, Rajasthan Royals won – 6

At the end of IPL 2010, the head to head between these two teams swayed in favour of the Rajasthan Royals slightly; RR had four wins, as against CSK’s three wins. Since then though, CSK have prevailed in 8 of the ten matches they’ve played against RR.

IPL match predictions: CSK vs RR

Source: profantasycricket

As far as IPL match predictions go, fatigue could be a factor that could come to play in this match. Rajasthan Royals who are playing their third game of the week will need to rotate their squad to keep their player's injury free. Chennai Super Kings should hopefully be rejuvenated and would have had time to rethink their strategy after their loss against Kings XI Punjab.

CSK should feel they have the upper hand going into this match and should be able to see this match through. 

EXPECTED 11:

Chennai Super Kings:

Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, M Vijay/Suresh Raina, Sam Billings (wk), MS Dhoni/Dhruv Shorey, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir

Rajasthan Royals:

Ajinkya Rahane (c), D’Arcy Short/Heinrich Klassen, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Laughlin/Joffra Archer