New Delhi: Match 03 of the Indian Premier League 2026 will pit the finalists of the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) season as Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings, reignite their age-old rivalry at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
RR will play three home fixtures in Guwahati, which serves as the second home venue for the Royals. After the first three home games, RR will shift base to their primary home ground in Jaipur.
Both teams are eyeing a revival in IPL 2026 after finishing in the bottom half of the table in the previous edition. While RR finished ninth on the points table, CSK ended last.
The dismal displays in IPL 2025 triggered one of the biggest trades in the history of the tournament ahead of the mini-auction in December 2025. As part of the swap deal, Sanju Samson shifted to CSK after spending 11 seasons at RR, while Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran moved to the Royals.
Both the Royals and the Kings have a point to prove this season, and setting the tone with a win today will serve as the perfect start towards that goal.
Toss crucial in RR vs CSK clash
Toss will be crucial in the high-octane clash, with the team winning the coin toss looking set to take inspiration from the first two games. Both Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI) opted to field first in their respective matches and ended up on the right side of the results despite being set 200+ targets to chase.
As many as six matches have been played at this venue in IPL, with teams batting first winning three and teams batting second claiming wins in two games. One match ended with No Result.
Barsapara pitch report: Stadium stats & scoring potential
Tonight is likely to be no different. With mostly flat pitches favouring the batters, Barsapara Stadium is known to produce high-scoring matches. At this venue, the average runs in an over in IPL is 8.56. However, the team batting first needs to score quicker than that if they hope to defend the target.
Despite plenty of runs on offer, Baraspara Stadium is yet to witness a 200+ score. While the average IPL score at this venue is 146, the highest-ever total is 199 for 4, scored by RR against the Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2023.
With explosive youngster Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in RR ranks and an in-form Samson in the CSK dugout, a 200+ total is well within the reach of both teams.
All four teams that have played so far (SRH, RCB, MI and KKR) have scored 200+ totals.
Will the high-scoring trend continue in RR vs CSK tonight?