Chennai Super Kings have up to now seemed like something however IPL’s defending champions and to impact a turnaround, new skipper Ravindra Jadeja will search enhancements on a number of fronts in opposition to Punjab Kings on Sunday.
CSK’s title protection has begun on a disappointing observe. After happening to Kolkata Knight Riders within the event opener, they misplaced to new entrants Lucknow Super Giants. While the batting unit failed to fireplace within the opening recreation, heavy dew made life troublesome for the bowlers as they did not defend a goal in extra of 200 runs.
The toss is already taking part in a major function within the end result of the video games. With the second innings dew in thoughts, groups are opting to chase and CSK will hope to be higher ready to bowl with the moist ball. Dew would be the very important half on this version. If you win the toss, you’ll look to bowl first.
There was lots of dew, the ball was not sticking to the arms, must apply with the moist ball, Jadeja mentioned after the loss to LSG. The CSK bowling assault can be feeling the absence of pacers Deepak Chahar and Adam Milne and death-over specialist Chris Jordan.
They have been pressured to bowl all-rounder Shivam Dube within the penultimate over in opposition to Lucknow, which value them 25 runs and took the match away from them. The CSK bowlers have to tighten issues as much as preserve the opposition batters in test. Tushar Desphande and rookie Mukesh Choudhary struggled in opposition to LSG and could have their job minimize out in opposition to a powerful Punjab line-up, particularly at CCI, the place bowling hasn’t been simple.
Dwayne Bravo, now IPL’s main wicket-taker, has been the standout performer, however he wants assist from others. Skipper Jadeja has not been his standard self and wishes to drag up his socks. After failing within the opening recreation, Chennai’s batting clicked in opposition to Lucknow. A classic Robin Uthappa, a medical Mooen Ali and an equally hard-hitting Dube have been seen and they might be greater than eager to repeat their performances.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, final version’s main run scorer, must get runs underneath his belt. Mahendra Singh Dhoni could be anticipated to do the job within the middle-overs and might play the function of a finisher. Punjab Kings, then again, have fairly just a few large hitters of their ranks, however they faltered in opposition to Kolkata Knight Riders.
Smarting from a six-wicket defeat, they are going to be desirous to return to profitable methods and would anticipate the batters to step up. With Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa on the high, Punjab can dominate the opposition assault with ease.
Odean Smith and Shahrukh Khan are additionally identified to tonk the ball and might want to play the finisher’s function on a extra constant foundation. Punjab, who added Kagiso Rabada to their assault, got here up quick in opposition to Andre Russell. They would shortly have to regroup and neglect the hammering and bowl in the best areas.
The function of the 2 spinners Rahul Chahar and Harpreet Brar turns into essential and might be a think about deciding the end result of the sport.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja (Captain), Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Ambati Rayadu, Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Santner, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne, Devon Conway, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Subranshu Senapati, Ok Bhagath Verma, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary.
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell.
Match begins at 7.30 PM.