Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, the two franchises that returned to the IPl after serving bans in the aftermath of the 2013 spot-fixing scandal, will come face to face for the first time in the ongoing edition, keen to regain lost momentum here on Friday.
A loss in their last outing has hurt both the former champions and they will look to get back to winning ways when they face off.
With two wins and two defeats, Rajasthan Royals are fifth with four points, while Chennai have also gathered an equal number of points with two victories from three matches. They are placed fourth because of better net run rate.
Both the teams were missing in action owing to a two-year ban for corruption.
Rajasthan, under new captain Ajinkya Rahane, had a bad start to the campaign but they have done well with two back-to-back wins before Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed them by seven wickets.
Sanju Samson has been the batting star for Rajasthan as he has scored 185 runs so far with an unbeaten 92-run innings being the highlight but he didn't get the desired support from other batsmen.
Rahane has made some useful contributions but he failed to capitalise on the starts.
Their bowling unit, led by K Gowtham and Ben laughlin, have done well. But England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was bought for a whopping ` 12.5 crore by Rajasthan, has been a big let down and he needs to live up to the billing.
Two-time champions Chennai, on the other hand, made a rampaging start to their campaign with back-to-back wins against defending champions Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
But in their last match against Kings XI Punjab despite Ambati Rayudu (49) and MS Dhoni (79) brought the Super Kings close to the victory target of 198 before falling short by four runs.