Jaipur, Apr 10 : Playing at their home ground, struggling Rajasthan Royals will look to put their IPL campaign back on track as they face rampaging Chennai Super Kings in their next match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Thursday.
RR have won just one match against RCB and lost four so far in the tournament and are placed at 7th position in the points table.
On the other hand, CSK thrashed KKR in their last match will play fearlessly as they are sitting pretty at the top of the table with five victories from six games.
This is the second encounter between these two teams this season. Earlier, when they met in Chennai, CSK won the match by eight runs.
After losing their last match against KKR, RR are now in a position from where they have to win almost all their remaining games to keep their play-off chances alive.
RR, who are largely dependent on Buttler are facing drought in the batting department . Even, Butler has failed in the last couple of innings.
Sanju Samson, who had the brilliant first ton of this IPL, is still recovering from an injury and after a great start to the season.
However, the return to form of former Australian captain Steve Smith will give some relief to RR camp. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi and Ben Stokes will also have to play their part.
In bowling too, RR bowlers have not been consistent so far. The likes of Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jaidev Unadkat, and Dhawal Kulkarni will have to pull up their socks against an in-form CSK and come up with new strategy.
CSK, on the other hand are high on confidence after they defeated the Royals earlier in the season, when Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 75 to clinch an eight-run victory.
CSK batting looks strong with Shane Watson and Fau Du Plessis at the top while the middle-order consists of Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jhadav and Dhoni.
In bowing unit, CSK have an impressive mix of pace and spin will try to exploit the Jaipur wicket, which has been playing slow and low.
However,CSK will definitely miss the services of all-rounder DJ Bravo who is still nursing the injury.
