These questions make it seem like CSK's situation is dire, but they're at least on the board unlike Rajasthan Royals (RR), who have suffered two back-to-back defeats. Yashasvi Jaiswal is yet to hit top form, stand-in captain Riyan Parag has a new role at No. 3.

There's also a question mark on Shimron Hetmyer's batting position - and whether batting too low. Is their batting bench among the weakest? They don't have another overseas batting cover, while their two Indian options - 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Kunal Singh Rathore - are inexperienced. What of their strategy of playing a batter less while taking first strike even with the Impact Player rule?

These are unusually long lists of questions for teams to grapple with this early in the season. RR will draw solace from hitting 242 in their chase of 287 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. CSK, meanwhile, have little downtime considering they arrive in Guwahati only on match eve. The long flight to the far east could prove challenging.

New loyalties - Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana

Seamer Tushar Deshpande, who went from being net bowler to Dhoni's trusted ally, is now playing for RR. Dube, former RR player, is now a fixture in the CSK line-up. Then there's Maheesh Theekshana, CSK's powerplay specialist, now playing for RR in a similar role.

Team news and likely XIIs

CSK are not known to chop-and-change, but there's a case to bring in Conway for Sam Curran. This could potentially also lead to playing Vijay Shankar as the batting allrounder or Anshul Kamboj as the bowling allrounder, with Impact Sub Rahul Tripathi playing as a floater.

Chennai Super Kings (probable): 1 Rachin Ravindra 2 Devon Conway, 3 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 4 Rahul Tripathi/Vijay Shankar, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Anshul Kamboj, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Khaleel Ahmed, 12 Matheesha Pathirana

Sanju Samson will likely be their Impact Player for a bowling option. Given the previous game in Guwahati was dominated by Kolkata Knight Riders' spinners, maybe RR could consider bringing in Kumar Kartikeya.

Rjasthan Royals (probable):1 Sanju Samson, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Riyan Parag (capt), 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Shubham Dubey, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Kumar Kartikeya/Tushar Deshpande

Big question

Will Gaikwad slot back up to open the batting for CSK? In any case, he's come in to bat in the second over in both the games so far.

In the spotlight - Riyan Parag and Rahul Tripathi

Riyan Parag's first stint as IPL captain - albeit stand-in - has gotten off to a challenging start. He's also now got the responsibility of being a pace-setter at No. 3, as against No. 4 where he had much success last year. He has scores of 4 and 25 in his first two outings, but needs no bigger motivation than another chance to score in front of his home crowd.

Rahul Tripathi made his name in the IPL as an opener, when he came in midway through 2017 and spurred Rising Pune Supergiant's run to the final. He has since moved to multiple teams - KKR, RR, SRH and now CSK - but is yet to find the stability he'd like. Two single-digit scores to kick off a new season has put him in a spot. CSK aren't known to fiddle with their playing XI too much, and therein lies another opportunity for him to come good.

Pitch and conditions

Moeen Ali saved KKR from missing Sunil Narine three nights ago in Guwahati. Varun Chakravarthy was able to get some assistance when he bowled a lot slower. CSK may find these conditions to be more like "home" than Chepauk, which coach Stephen Fleming believes hasn't given them any "advantage."

Key stats

• Wanindu Hasaranga's 90 wickets are the most in T20s since 2024.

• Khaleel Ahmed's 11 wickets are the best by a current CSK bowler in the powerplay in IPL since 2024.

• Dhoni is now CSK's highest run-scorer. He surpassed Suresh Raina's tally of 4687 runs during his 16-ball 30 against RCB.

Next three fixtures

This is Royals' last game this season in Guwahati. They fly to Mullanpur and Ahmedabad to play a couple of away games against Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans before flying home to Jaipur for their first match of IPL 2025 there, against RCB.

CSK alternate between home and away fixtures after this. They fly home to host Delhi Capitals in an afternoon match on Saturday before taking on PBKS three days later. They then go back home to play KKR on April 11 in Chennai.

Quotes

"Just because we don't swing from ball one and have a little bit of luck go away… we'll see at the end who wins. It's a positive brand of cricket, no doubt about it, but don't discount us."CSK coach Stephen Fleming when asked if they lack firepower