The State of Play
It’s crunch time in IPL 2024 with both the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals requiring a win when they meet tomorrow.
The Super Kings have hit a sticky patch at the worst possible time with four defeats in their last six games putting their play-off hopes in danger.
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However, wins in their two remaining games, added to a healthy net run rate, ought to be enough for them to advance.
The Royals are sitting in a stronger position and need to win just one of their last three games to be certain of making the post-season.
Sanju Samson’s men have not been in great form either and come into this clash on the back of defeats to the Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The 20-run loss to the Capitals was an expensive one for Samson. Although he made a superb 86 off 46 balls he was given out controversially at a crucial juncture of his side’s reply, with TV umpire Michael Gough ruling Shai Hope had taken the catch despite stumbling close to the boundary. Samson’s subsequent conversation with the on-field umpires saw him lose 30 per cent of his match fee.
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RR head coach Kumar Sangakkara said: “It is a difficult one for the third umpire to judge. The game was at a crucial stage, so that happens in cricket. We have different perspectives on it.
“At the end of the day, you have to stand by that decision in terms of what the umpires did. If we have any other kind of opinion on it, we will share it with the umpire and sort it out. But irrespective of that dismissal, we still should have probably seen that game home.”
CSK have a short turnaround having played on Friday. They lost by 35 runs to the Gujarat Titans, who were inspired by an opening stand of 210 from Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill.
Coach Stephen Fleming admitted: “I think we were through Plan B and Plan C pretty quickly and maybe started getting into Plan D.
“It was the batting of high calibre. Sometimes you have to doff the cap and say well played, and on this occasion, I thought those two were great.
“We were pretty shell-shocked and even our fielding, which has been good over the years, was put on the back foot. There were catches dropped and that was a little bit unusual for us.”
All about the Ahmedabad clash!🗣️📹#GTvCSK #MatchReview #WhistlePodu@GulfOilIndia pic.twitter.com/bKZuR11ecZ
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) May 11, 2024
Expected line-ups
Chennai Super Kings: Rahane, Ravindra, Gaikwad (c), Mitchell, Ali, Dube, Jadeja, Dhoni (wk), Santner, Deshpande, Thakur
Rajasthan Royals: Jaiswal, Buttler, Samson (c, wk), Parag, Dubey, Powell, Ferreira, Ashwin, Boult, Khan, Sharma
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Sunday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.50am BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
Dream opening batting pair does not exi… 🔥 pic.twitter.com/3FBjlr7jeR
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 11, 2024
Prediction
Quite simply, the Super Kings’ need is greater than that of the Royals. That can result in one of two things: either CSK are spurred on to perform; or they buckle under the pressure.
We’re going for the former. We think CSK will find that extra 10 per cent to get over the line and keep their play-off hopes alive.
