Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals IPL Tips: Royals well-suited to Chepauk raid

• Royals the bet at 1.9420/21

• Spin to assist visitors

• Look out for Dube and Ferreira

Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals
Wednesday 12 April, 15:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Team news

Chennai could welcome back Moeen Ali who missed the victory over Mumbai Indians because of illness. Ben Stokes (toe) and Deepak Chahar (hamstring) are out.

Sri Lanka pair Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana are available. Pathirana's pace could be valuable given Chahar's injury.

Possible XI: Gaikwad, Conway, Moeen, Rahane, Dube, Jadeja, Dhoni, Santner, Magala/Pathirana, Deshpande, Hangarekar

The Royals produced a strong performance with bat and ball to beat Delhi last time out. Jos Buttler showed no ill effects from a finger injury to take top-bat honours. They have no injury concerns so debate has centred on whether Shimron Hetmyer is being underused.

Probable XI: Jaiswal, Buttler, Samson, Parag, Hetmyer, Jurel, Ashwin, Holder, Boult, Sandeep, Chahal

Pitch report

Chennai smashed 217 in the first game at the Chidambaram this season. It busted the average since 2018 by 62 runs. The winning average score in that study period is 168. One suspects that 180 will be the target batting first and Royals are more reliable to make it.

How to play

If there is a team which should be well equipped to do well at this venue it is Rajasthan. It is well-known that Chennai have, in the past, used spin effectively but the prospect of facing Ravi Ashwin and Yuz Chahal challenges that strategy.

Royals also have the option of bringing in a third spinner as an impact player in the form of leggie Murugan Ashwin if they bowl second, as they did against Delhi.

The match odds market has Royals marginal favourites at 1.9420/21. As we have said previously, Royals could well prove to be the team to beat and it is worth backing them at odds which could look rareified in the weeks to come, particularly with Chennai's bowling weakened.

Rajasthan to win and both teams to score 160 is 8/5 with Sportsbook.

Tops value

Buttler and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been boosted to 11/5 and 7/2 respectively for top team bat.

Buttler is, of course, value on win rate at that price while Gaikwad has a hit rate of 33% after two wins this edition.

Chennai's Shivam Dube is also a wrong price at 11/1. He could bat as high as No 4.

We should also point out that Donovan Ferreira is no 33s chance. He probably won't play but if does the South Africa hitter is an 8s shot.