Less than 48 hours after their winning streak against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at home came to an end, Chennai Super Kings will be up against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati.
Given how the Royals’ contest against KKR panned out at this venue, the spin-friendly surface could offer CSK more home comfort than the one at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
In Guwahati on Wednesday, the ball stopped and turned a fair bit, especially in the first innings. That could mean good news for CSK’s spinners who could make good use of the slow turner.
CSK coach Stephen Fleming was livid with the Chepauk conditions.
Ravichandran Ashwin has a favourable match-up against Sanju Samson, in terms of both containing him as well as dismissing him. However, Nitish Rana has scored at a strike rate of above 186 against him without ever getting dismissed by him in the IPL.
Just like Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy exploited the conditions to the fullest during the other night for KKR, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja might just use their experience to good effect against the likes of Samson, Riyan Parag, Shubham Dubey, Nitish and Dhruv Jurel.
Most of these players are fantastic when it comes to using the pace of deliveries, when it comes to fast bowlers but when the ball grips, turns and the bounce could be slightly uneven, this batting line-up could struggle.
CSK, on the other hand, have other concerns. They have failed to win each of their last eight games where they were asked to chase a total above 175, despite winning the toss on six of those occasions. They in fact haven’t chased down a 175-plus target in the IPL since 2021.
