Guwahati, 29 March

Shaken by the sound thrashing that Royal Challengers Bengaluru handed them, a confused Chennai Super Kings might feel more "at home" against an equally clueless Rajasthan Royals on an expected slow turner in their next IPL game on Sunday.

Losing by 50 runs at 'Fortress Chepauk' would have seemed like a wishful thinking for an opposition side till date but RCB's 'class of 2025' under an ever-improving skipper Rajat Patidar has exposed some chinks in the CSK armoury and match against Royals couldn't have come at a better time for Ruturaj Gaikwad's men.

CSK coach Stephen Fleming looked livid about Chepauk conditions where normally the CSK template is to play games where they either defend 165 to 170 if batting first or chase 155 to 160 by restricting opposition.

The kind of batting line-up that they have with MS Dhoni now becoming a designated 'tail-ender' at No 9 due to Impact Substitution has worked well.

But the moment it became a chase of 175 plus, the same line-up didn't have enough firepower and one world class bowler (Josh Hazlewood) and another seasoned veteran (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) were good enough to stop the home team on their tracks. Dhoni's 30 off 16 balls only has value for nostalgia merchants as the former India captain is doing disservice to his team by coming in to bat when all is seemingly lost.

In this backdrop, playing Royals on a surface which is "more Chepauk-ish than typical Barsapara Stadium track full of runs" might just help them get a win against a side that also doesn't boast of a great bowling attack.

Also Riyan Parag is too raw as a skipper and to put it mildly seems completely out of place for a high stakes assignment like leading a billion dollar franchise.

But all these years, CSK had the personnel to play that game, especially in the bowling department, which doesn't look top notch this year. Slinger Matheesha Pathirana and left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmed are fantastic but to be fair it is the Indian line-up that is not exactly looking great.

Khaleel Ahmed is an okay new ball bowler, who would have occasional good days and when it comes to semi-retired Ravichandran Ashwin and his long-time colleague Ravindra Jadeja, the aura of invincibility in this format no longer exists.

But just like Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy exploited the conditions to fullest during other night for KKR, Ashwin and Jadeja might just use their experience to good effect against the likes of Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana and Dhruv Jurel.

Most of these players are fantastic when it comes to using the pace of deliveries when it comes to fast bowlers but when the ball grips, turns and the bounce could be slightly uneven, this batting line-up could struggle.

It is an intriguing situation where Royals don't have one big overseas batting heavyweight like Jos Buttler and their Indian bowling assortment comprising Tushar Deshpande and Sandeep Sharma also doesn't inspire confidence. Royals also do not have a quality spinner to exploit the Barsapara track.

In a nutshell, CSK is slightly ahead in a battle of two weak teams.

Teams (from).

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad, Ravichandran Ashwin, Devon Conway, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, Shaik Rashid, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Hooda, Gurjanpreet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishnan Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth.

Rajasthan Royals: Riyan Parag (stand-in captain), Sanju Samson, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Rana, Yudhvir Singh, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma, Sandeep Sharma.

Match starts at 7.30 pm.