Chennai Super Kings look to make it two-in-two against depleted Rajasthan Royals

Over the years, Rajasthan Royals have had to force-fit overseas players into their XIs at the back end of the competition because of the unavailability of their first-choice picks. This season, they have to do that from the start.

Jos Buttler has arrived in the UAE with family and is undergoing extended quarantine. This rules him out of Tuesday's fixture in Sharjah. Ben Stokes is still with family in New Zealand. The Royals therefore have two gaps to plug.

One of those - the opening slot - might be plugged by Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Mumbai teenager with a burgeoning reputation already in domestic cricket, and Robin Uthappa, one of their big buys at the auction.

Who comes in to replace Stokes? It appears as if Tom Curran might be the chosen one. He has had plenty of match time, in the England-Australia limited-overs series. He was a standout performer for the Sydney Sixers in their BBL 2019 victory, finishing the tournament as the third-highest wicket-taker (22 strikes in 14 matches). Then, there's David Miller, who could make his franchise debut after nine seasons with Kings XI Punjab.

For the Super Kings, given they are playing in Sharjah, traditionally a high-scoring venue with small boundaries, MS Dhoni could look for some bowling insurance by fielding a sixth option. One way of doing this could be by bringing in Shardul Thakur for M Vijay, who had a forgettable opening game. The rest of the batting can then move up a slot, with Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja as the floaters to keep-up the left-right combination should they want that.

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 M Vijay, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Robin Uthappa (wk), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Shreyas Gopal, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Tom Curran