Rajasthan vs. Chennai, IPL: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

The Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings clash for the first time in the 2015 Indian Premier League, having both won all their games so far.

Rajasthan have four wins from four games, while Chennai have three from three, so this game should be a good one between two strong teams.

Venue: Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Date: Sunday, April 19

Start time: 4 p.m. local time, 11:30 BST

Live on: Sony Six and Set Max (India), IMG (Caribbean), PCCW (Hong Kong), Maasranga TV (Bangladesh), Sky NZ (New Zealand), Sky Sports (UK), EMTV (Papua New Guinea), Measat (Malaysia), OSN Network (Middle East), StarHub (Singapore), Super Sports (Sub-Saharan Africa), Geo Super (Pakistan), Carlton Sports Network (Sri Lanka), Sportsnet (Canada), Willow TV (USA).

Weather: According to Weather.com, Ahmedabad promises to be sunny with temperatures peaking at a sweltering 45 degrees Celsius.

Overview

The Royals have won their opening four games and were relatively dominant in their latest victory, which came by six wickets over Sunrisers Hyderabad off the last ball of the game.

Hyderabad batted first in the game and could manage just 127-5 from their 20 overs, with Dhawal Kulkarni, Deepak Hooda and Pravin Tambe especially economical for the Royals.

In reply, Rajasthan needed the full 20 overs to overhaul their target, led by 62 from opener Ajinkya Rahane, with James Faulkner hitting the winning runs.

With a perfect four wins from four games, Rajasthan are at the top of the table and looking strong going into this game.

Chennai had a big target to chase in their last game against the Mumbai Indians but managed to overhaul it with six wickets and 20 balls remaining.

The Indians made a strong total of 183-7, but in response the Super Kings came out of the blocks strongly and did not let up.

Brendon McCullum set the tone with 46 from 20 balls, while Suresh Raina chipped in 43 from 29 balls himself.

Leading the way, however, was Dwayne Smith, who hit 62 from 30 opening the batting and took Chennai to the brink of victory, which they achieved with relative ease.

With both teams in form and both on winning streaks, this game promises to be very intriguing.

Team News

Rajasthan Royals (from): Shane Watson (capt), Ankit Sharma, Brainder Sran, Rajat Bhatia, Stuart Binny, Ben Cutting, James Faulkner, Deepak Hooda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Vikramjeet Malik, Chris Morris, Karun Nair, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Pardeep Sahu, Dinesh Salunkhe, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Tim Southee, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Rusty Theron, Sagar Trivedi, Dishant Yagnik.
 
Chennai Super Kings (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Eklavya Dwivedi, Kyle Abbott, Baba Aparajith, Ravichandran Ashwin, Samuel Badree, Ankush Bains, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Matt Henry, Michael Hussey, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, Mithun Manhas, Ronit More, Pawan Negi, Ashish Nehra, Ishwar Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Pratyush Singh, Suresh Raina, Mohit Sharma, Rahul Sharma, Dwayne Smith, Andrew Tye.

Key Players

Ajinkya Rahane

Indian opener Ajinkya Rahane looked in good form last time out for Rajasthan as he stroked 62 to take them to the brink of victory.

Coming off a strong showing in the Cricket World Cup, Rahane will be determined to continue his good run against a strong Super Kings bowling attack.

Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum appears to be bang in form for the Chennai Super Kings, having already smoked 100 not out against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their second game.

The New Zealand opener continues to be the Chennai lynchpin, and if he continues in this vein, they will be almost unstoppable.