Chennai and Rajasthan have both returned to winning ways this season after losing their opening matches and will look to continue their momentum when they clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, April 19.
While Chennai registered a comprehensive victory against Punjab in their second game last week, Rajasthan pulled off a thriller against Delhi riding on a late show by Chris Morris.
While Rajasthan's record at the Wankhede haven't been any inferior as opposed to Chennai, an experienced MS Dhoni helming Chennai in the familiar Indian conditions could see Rajasthan's young captain Sanju Samson in deep waters.
| Record at Wankhede | ||
| Chennai | Metrics | Rajasthan |
| 16 | Matches | 10 |
| 8 | Wins | 5 |
| 50% | Win Percentage | 50% |
And Chennai's overall head-to-head record against Rajasthan rightly reflects Dhoni's dominance in the fixture over the years.
| Head-to-Head Overall |
||
| Chennai | Metrics | Rajasthan |
| 23 | Matches | 23 |
| 14 | Wins | 9 |
| 60.86% | Win Percentage | 39.13% |
It is a well-known fact that MS Dhoni likes chasing in T20s, which was pretty evident from their last match as well. Batting first, Chennai's batting average has been a paltry 153.4 in the last five matches, which is quite inferior to Rajasthan's 163.2.
Given that Chennai's win in the last match came after they had a brilliant spell with the ball, MS Dhoni will be desperate to win the toss this time as well. Interestingly, though Rajasthan have won more matches after losing the toss.
| Coin Toss & H2H last 5 matches | ||
| Chennai | Metrics | Rajasthan |
| 4 | Tosses Won | 1 |
| 2 | Matches Won | 3 |
| 40% | Win Percentage | 60% |
Rajasthan will be wary of Chennai's comeback man Suresh Raina for this fixture. The southpaw has had some of his best innings against Rajasthan, garnering 609 runs from 21 matches with four fifties to his name. Apart from Raina, Dhoni himself has been quite handy against Rajasthan tallying 477 runs in 23 matches.
Rajasthan, on the other hand, will have Joss Buttler as their biggest hope given the Englishman's average of 72 against the yellow army in five matches.
With the ball, Ravindra Jadeja jas been lethal against Rajasthan scalping 16 wickets in 16 matches so far, while Chris Morris will be Rajasthan's main weapon after scalping nine wickets against Chennai in five matches.
Featured Image: AFP/ Sajjad Hussain
