The diehard fans of MS Dhoni are whistling high to relish his new milestone which he will be achieving in today's match against the Rajasthan Royals, but will he fix the team's faltering trajectory, unlike the preceding seasons? This would be the question that largely occupies over Dhoni's milestone as CSK must and definitely win all the remaining matches to enter the playoffs. 

Today's battle would be between the teams that currently hold the seventh and eighth place in the points table and if CSK loses the game today, it would be pushed to the last place in the points table, the place that Dhoni's army had never attained in the IPL history whereas if it wins, CSK would reach the fifth spot in the table. Today's match would be hosted by Abu Dhabi and CSK must reframe its gameplans to avoid further damages if it wishes to reserve the berth in the playoffs. 

CSK can't depend on the external factors like toss and the venue unless it fixes the internal factors and issues like building a strong batting line up to go high and cement a stable bowling line up to apply brakes for the opponents. CSK has played nine matches so far and apart from the match against Kings XI Punjab, it had failed to build a winning momentum in the rest of the matches, and out of nine, it has won three matches and currently stands at the seventh place. 

As CSK locks horn with the Rajasthan Royals for the second time in the series, Dhoni's team must pay the Royals back after the latter had defeated CSK in the first match and it must win strong to end with a positive net run rate, which is the important factor of deciding the ranks. If CSK loses today's match, it will become the only team in the current season to have lost more matches and amid being one of the successful teams, the CSK had disappointed the fans who have very few moments to whistle high. 

Without having a second thought, CSK must repair the damages and come up with the fresh gameplans as every match would be a series test for Dhoni's fleet. The fans are yet to see the captain's knock from MS Dhoni. When CSK prepares for a must-win, Royals are also hoping to have a treat and RR has been packed with some of the star players and young talents. 

In its squad, RR has Jos Buttler, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Andrew Tye, Rahul Tewatia, Tom Curran, David Miller, Robin Uthappa, and Jofra Archer and along with that, RR would come up with the hope that it had defeated CSK in the first match of the current season. While CSK had faced a defeat from the young team Delhi Capitals last match, it must prepare to say the team has enough defeats and it would start building the winning momentum. 

Though too late, it must at least return to its track now before everything would be gone. CSK must change its failing state to avoid recording the never-wished history - exiting the season without entering the playoffs. As both sides need a victory, we can expect that the match would be a pack of thriller and suspense till the last ball. Some of the players that we must watch out for during today's game include Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Robin Uthappa, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ambati Rayudu. 

The match will unveil the following milestones including Dhoni's new achievement - today's match will be MS Dhoni's 200th IPL match and he will become the first cricketer to achieve this feat in IPL and CSK's skipper needs one dismissal and six runs to complete 150 IPL dismissals and 4000 IPL runs for CSK respectively. Steve Smith requires three fours and 21 runs respectively to complete 1000 IPL runs and 100 IPL fours for Rajasthan Royals. 

Faf du Plessis needs two catches to complete 50 IPL catches for CSK while RR's Jos Buttler needs four sixes to complete 50 IPL sixes for his team. As Dhoni and Smith prepare for the intense battle, the result would be crucial for both the teams as it could cost an entire IPL season for either side and while Dhoni records a new milestone, will his team set and carry the winning momentum?