Make-or-break game for RR | IPL 2022 Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings: Team Analysis

The 68th match is going to be a make-or-break game for the Rajasthan Royals. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings, who are already out from the race of play-offs, will be looking to cause some last-second hiccups in the points table.

The match will be played at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, for Rajasthan Royals, it’s their hunting ground, where they’ve won both the matches they’ve played and for Chennai Super Kings, it has been a struggle to register a win, having lost both the matches played there. Here is our team analysis:

Team analysis of Rajasthan Royals

Strengths: The things that have been impressive about the Rajasthan Royal’s campaign this season are:

First, their ability to pick wickets regularly, whether it’s Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna in the powerplay or Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin in the middle over, or Kuldeep Sen, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini bowling tight overs in the middle and at the end.

Second, the batting has been consistent with new faces taking up responsibility in every other match. If it was Jos Buttler who was tormenting the opposition bowlers at the start of the tournament, it was Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer, and Devdutt Paddikal who were doing the same thing in the middle phase of the tournament. Now the baton has been passed to or rather taken up by Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Plus, with Shimron Hetmyer back with the squad, they’ll finally have some power at the closing end of the game.

Weaknesses: Jos Buttler’s season can be divided into two halves – in the first half he scored 514 runs including 3 centuries and 2 fifties and in the second, he has managed just 119 runs, including just 1 fifty.

With straight boundaries and a good batting pitch, it’s going to be a hard task for both Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, to bowl with tight line and length.

Team analysis of Chennai Super Kings

Strengths: This season may be over for the reigning champions, but the way they’ve gone about choosing their squad in the last two matches has been quite surprising and a good direction for the way ahead.

Matheesha Pathirana a.k.a. baby Malinga, was impressive on his debut picking up two wickets. N Jagadessan may have scored at run-a-ball, but his ability to rotate the strike in the middle overs and the range of shots makes him a future regular for the team.

Ruturaj Gaikwad has been impressive in the second half of the tournament, and his skills with the bat equally match the intellect he has got with regards to the read of the game. He puts up a strong candidature for CSK’s future captain.

Weaknesses: The bowling other than Mukesh Choudhary and Moeen Ali hasn’t been consistent. The death bowling has been their weakest link and with short boundaries and heavy dew, this might come to haunt them, if they’ll be bowling second.

Shivam Dube’s inconsistency and sudden dip in form, not only does it cause CSK to lose out on a few runs at the closing end of an innings, but also robs off another player’s chance to be in the playing XI.

Impact player for Rajasthan Royals

Yashasvi Jaiswal: When he made his debut in the IPL, he was a stroke maker but lacked power. However, after two seasons with the Royals, he not only added the power in his batting but has also outscored Jos Buttler on most occasions. He has been the reason, why the Royals are up and scoring runs at the top in the second half of the tournament.

Impact player for Chennai Super Kings

Mukesh Choudhary: The find of the season for the CSK has to be – Mukesh Choudhary. He has been at it from the start of the season and his ability to bounce back from tough situations and to keep it simple. He has managed to pick 16 wickets while going for 9.22 runs per over in his first season of the IPL.

Head-to-head: 26

CSK: 15

RR: 11