Either Chennai Super Kings or Rajasthan Royals will drop its unbeaten tag in the Pepsi-IPL-8 here on Sunday.
In the inaugural season, CSK was swept aside by Shane Warne-led Royals, losing the home and away matches by eight wickets and 10 runs and the title match by three wickets.
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Dhoni’s team turned the tables once the league moved to South Africa in 2009, and since then CSK has scored crushing wins over Royals; some consolation for Royals is their victories at the Motera Stadium in 2010 and at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium in 2012.
RR has been the bellwether team of the ongoing league taking on Mumbai Indians at home and putting up impressive shows against Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Two last-ball finishes against KXIP and Sunrisers reflected its ability to hold its nerve in touch-and-go affairs.
“Congrats to Rajasthan Royals and the young Hooda, awesome! I’m glad that culture of finding a way to win the tight ones continues,” Warne tweeted after Deepak Hooda’s half-century changed the course of the match against Daredevils.
The Steve Smith-led team has opened the innings with a new pair in Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson and these two will be put through the wringer by CSK’s largely home attack comprising Ashish Nehra, Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and West Indian Dwayne Bravo.
The two-time champion has begun the three-away-match itinerary on a winning note thrashing Mumbai and would hope for a positive outcome against Royals here and Royal Challengers Bangalore next Wednesday.
With several match-winners in the line-up beginning with Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum and followed by Suresh Raina and the captain himself, CSK is the clear favourite.
Mentored by Rahul Dravid, Royals have their brand of game-changers in Smith, James Faulkner and a number of Indians.
Hence one can expect a real tussle in the Motera heat and dust.
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