It is the Sanju Samson derby to start the season for Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. The Kerala wicketkeeper-batter, who was the face of the Royals for so long, is making his debut for CSK, by facing RR themselves at their home. He will be keeping wickets for CSK, with former captain and talisman MS Dhoni out injured and ruled out for the first two weeks of this season.
Meanwhile, CSK themselves will find a stalwart of theirs in the opposition camp. Ravindra Jadeja’s six and four off the last two balls of the 2023 final, off which CSK had needed exactly 10 to win, has a permanent place in the franchise’s folklore but his skills will be turned against them now that he has been traded to RR in exchange of Samson. It is also a bit of a homecoming for Jadeja, he was among the many young, unheralded players in the RR squad led by Shane Warne that won the inaugural IPL title in 2008.
RR vs CSK Predicted Playing XIs
CSK predicted XI: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, Matthew Short, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Jamie Overton, Anshul Kamboj, Rahul Chahar, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed
RR predicted XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Adam Milne
RR vs CSK Head-To-Head
- Played: 31
- RR won: 15
- CSK won: 16
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur – Pitch Report
A total of 64 IPL matches have been played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, one of the original set of grounds where the tournament was played since its first season. The venue has historically favoured chasing teams with sides batting second winning 41 of the 64 IPL matches played here, which translates to a above 60 per cent success rate. The data suggests that the pitch often becomes more favourable for batting under lights, making run-chases more manageable. Overall, the Sawai Mansingh Stadium pitch has been known to be a fairly balanced playing surface which can favour both batters and bowlers depending on external conditions. The highest team total recorded here is 219 (by Punjab Kings in IPL 2025) while the lowest is 59 (by RR in IPL 2023).
RR vs CSK Squads
Rajasthan Royals Squad: Riyan Parag(C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Donovan Ferreira, Lhuan-de Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Aman Rao Parela, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Nandre Burger.
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Chennai Super Kings Squad: MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brewis, Shivam Dube, Urvil Patel, Noor Ahmad, Spencer Johnson, Shreyas Gopal, Khaleel Ahmed, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Jamie Overton, Gurjapneet Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer, Kartik Sharma, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zak Foulkes
RR vs CSK IPL 2026 Live Streaming
Where to watch RR vs CSK IPL 2026 match live?
The live streaming of the RR vs CSK IPL 2026 will be available on JioHotstar in India, whereas the Live telecast will be available on Star Sports Network TV channels in India.
