Out of contention for spots in the playoffs, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will be playing for pride when they meet in Match 62 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Chennai Super Kings are, along with Mumbai Indians, the most successful teams in the IPL. But they have had a wretched season since the tournament's inception in 2008, finishing at the bottom of the points table. Rajasthan Royals, the winners of the inaugural edition, are second from the bottom.
With their forgettable season set to end, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming stated that his team is aware of the opportunity of finishing their campaign on a strong note and aim to salvage some pride.
One thing is that the players who represent Chennai in the next two games will be very proud. The opportunity to finish the season well is really important to us. We had a good win in the last game, and we reflect back on past seasons where it hasn't gone that well for us.
“We finished those seasons well, which has helped our performances in the next season. So there's always an opportunity, and the intensity on the side, the way we play these two games, we'll have intensity as though we're trying to win the competition. Because it's important to us every time we represent CSK, it's important that we play as well as we can.”
We know we haven't been up to par, so we've got two opportunities to finish well. So that doesn't change. We are looking at the opportunities for other players.
Fleming said CSK has been in the process of infusing youth into the team, giving them a taste of IPL intensity.
We've done that in the last two or three games. We'll continue to do that because that is an opportunity out of our performances that we will be bullish on taking. So we've learned a lot and added to this group, and we will continue to learn over the next two games.
CSK have already given an opportunity to Ayush Mhatre, Shaikh Rasheed, and Anshul Kamboj, while Rajasthan Royals have given a chance to 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Their experienced players have not performed for both teams, and now they will be hoping to continue building their squad for the next season.
Both teams come into Tuesday's clash with four losses in their last five matches. Overall, in 30 matches played between the two teams, CSK have won 16 matches while Rajasthan Royals have won 14.
Probable playing XIs: Chennai Super Kings: Ayush Mhatre, Devon Conway, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, R Ashwin, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson (capt & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
