The Chennai Super Kings will look to put a bit of daylight between them and the Rajasthan Royals when the two sides meet in an IPL 2014 match in Ranchi on Tuesday afternoon.
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Match 37 is scheduled for a 4 pm IST (11.30 am BST, 6.30 am ET) start with live coverage on Sony Six (English) and Sony Max (Hindi) in India. The match can also be watched via live streaming online HERE or HERE. Watch the match in the rest of the world HERE, HERE or through the GoCricket apps. Viewers in the US can catch the game on Willow TV or with the live streaming option HERE, while Canada viewers can do the same HERE.
Viewers in the Middle East can watch the action on OSN with the live streaming option available HERE, while New Zealand viewers can do the same via Sky NZ or HERE or via the above rest of the world options. Viewers in the UK can catch the match on ITV, while Pakistan viewers can do the same on Geo Super, with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh audience able to watch the game on TV on Masaranga TV and Carlton Sports Network respectively.
CSK are currently joint top with Kings XI Punjab, having managed to pick up 14 points from nine matches this season. RR are only two points, or a win, behind CSK at the moment, and the Super Kings, who beat the Royals by seven runs earlier this season in the UAE, will know the importance of making that top two position just that little bit safer with a victory on Tuesday.
The Super Kings are coming off a professional victory against the defending champions the Mumbai Indians, with the Chennai franchise pulling off a nicely measured chase of 158 with three balls to spare, with skipper MS Dhoni showing his finishing prowess yet again.
"It could have gone either way, but you just got the feeling the way he [Dhoni] played [Lasith] Malinga he was gearing up to win it off Pollard," CSK coach Stephen Fleming said.
"Both teams had luck along the way. The game fluctuated nicely and Mumbai are not easy to beat at home. They had won ten in a row. We knew they were not going to give that up easy. We were just smart."
CSK will not have as much of a home advantage this season as they would have liked with their scheduled games in Chennai shifted to Ranchi owing to stadium issues. While Dhoni is akin to God in the region, Fleming did admit his side would miss playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
"We are very disappointed not to play in Chennai," he added. "I say this on behalf of the team, announce our disappointment that we can't go back. We enjoy amazing support all around India and around the world. But we were looking forward to giving back to Chepauk. We were devastated as we were really looking forward to those games.
"Though Ranchi has been home away from home and we have played there beautifully, there was an element of returning back to the Chennai faithful. We won't be able to do that this year. We will carry that with us and hopefully put up a couple of good performances at Ranchi and move on. But as I said the team is sad not to be going back to our fan base."
The Royals will still have adrenaline flowing through them after that near-unbelievable chase against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday night. With the match looking dead and buried, chasing a target of 191, Steven Smith and James Faulkner played a couple of amazing knocks to not only get their team over the line, but get them the two points with seven balls to spare.
"When you are in a position we were in, you have nothing to lose," Faulkner told IPL's official website. "It's all or nothing. Chasing a total down is always a nice feeling, but chasing 190 from that position is a very special feeling for the team."
Both teams will prefer to chase, without doubt, and at the end of the day the captain who calls it right half-an-hour before the start of play might just pave the way for his side's victory.
