PTI, Jaipur, May 8: Rajasthan Royals would bank on their formidable winning record at home and look to exact revenge of their first leg loss when they take on defending champions Chennai Super Kings in a crucial Indian Premier League match on Monday.
Both the sides are coming into the match after losing their previous matches and any slip up tomorrow could prove costly for either team for a place in the play-offs.
Chennai are on 12 points from 10 matches, third in the IPL table and they have come into tomorrow's match after their four-game winning streak was snapped by Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match.
Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, are on 11 points from 10 matches and a win tomorrow will take them closer to a play-off berth. Besides, the Shane Warne-led side have a formidable record at home, having won 12 games out of 15 in the IPL. They have won four out of five games here this year.
Chennai, on the other hand, have been poor travellers having won only one out of their five away games this season and they would look to breach the Rajasthan Royals stranglehold at Sawai Man Singh Stadium.
With just three games each left after Wednesday's match, both the sides are expected to fight a fierce battle to take their sides closer to the play-offs.
The match will be played on a new strip after the pitch controversy generated by the remarks from Sachin Tendulkar, the skipper of Mumbai Indians who were restricted to 94 for eight here on April 29.
Though the Mumbai Indians insisted that there was no formal complaint, a new strip was ordered for the remaining two matches at Sawai Man Singh Stadium after a visit by the pitch inspector.
Chennai beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in their last meeting on May 4 in Chennai. The Royals must be ruing the manner in which they squandered the advantage after being 92 for one in 13th over to post just 147 in 20 overs after batting first and subsequently lose the match.
Rajasthan Royals would, however, take positives from that match like Rahul Dravid cracking 66 of 51 balls and he shared a 92-run opening wicket partnership with Shane Watson.
Skipper Shane Warne has already announced that he will retire from the IPL after this season and he and his team are eager to finish in top four at least.
They will have to win at least two of their remaining four matches to make the grade.
Rajasthan Royals have had a roller coaster journey with five victories and a washed out tie from 10 outings to accumulate 11 for a fifth place as of now. They will have to put in some extra efforts to go through the race.
They will look up to Warne as usual in the bowling department and to extract the best out of his players at the home conditions with his tactical moves.
Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha and Ashok Menaria will have to fire in tandem in the batting front.
Chennai, on the other hand, look formidable with likes of Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and skipper MS Dhoni capable of posting big scores and chasing down stiff targets.
Their bowling attack is also no less formidable with Albie Morkel, Doug Bollinger and deceptive spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in good form.
Chennai lost to Kolkata Knight Riders under D/L method last night but will look to be back to their winning momentum on Monday.
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