Chennai Super Kings will face off Rajasthan Royals at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune in what will be a repeat of the final of the inaugural edition of the IPL. This will be CSK’s first match at their new home in Pune after all their matches were moved out of Chennai following the Cauvery water management protests in the state. While Chennai Super Kings return from a four-day break, Rajasthan Royals have had just one day to breathe after their last match on Wednesday, a disappointing loss at home to Kolkata Knight Riders.

Head-to-head

CSK 11 – RR 7. CSK enjoy a good edge over KXIP with eleven wins under their belt in comparison to seven wins for RR.

Match Date: 20 April 2018, Friday

Match Timing: 20:00 IST, 14:30 GMT

Match Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune, India

Expected Crowd Turnout: The game is expected to be a house-full with an expected crowd turnout of 37,400.

Weather

The humidity levels will click around 35% with no forecast of rain. Winds will be flowing from the west at a speed of 11 km/hr. Thus, it is expected to be a breezy evening in Pune. The sky will be clear with an expected cloud cover of 31%.

The likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Ambati Rayudu, 3 M Vijay/Suresh Raina, 4 Sam Billings (wk), 5 MS Dhoni/Dhruv Shorey, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Imran Tahir

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 D’Arcy Short/Heinrich Klassen, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Rahul Tripathi, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 K Gowtham, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Ben Laughlin/Joffra Archer

Apr 20, 2018 – 17th match at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune (night)
Match scheduled to begin at 20:00 local time (14:30 GMT | 20:30 +06)

Toss: Rajasthan Royals
Match: Rajasthan Royals