Chennai: Their play-off hopes all but over, Chennai Super Kings would look to turn around a floundering campaign when they square off against a better-placed but erratic Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.
It has been a disappointing season for five-time champions CSK, languishing at the bottom of the table with just two wins out of nine games.
PBKS, on the other hand, are placed fifth in the standings with five wins from nine matches and would look to rise up with a victory against a demoralised CSK side, which failed to get its combinations right so far in the season.
What has been most disheartening for CSK is their inability to master the home conditions at the Chepauk, considered a fortress for a long time.
CSK would be desperate to register their third win of the tournament to keep slim hopes of making it to the playoffs alive.
Even a talisman like Mahendra Singh Dhoni has failed to fire up the side after taking over the leadership from Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been ruled out due to an elbow injury.
And Dhoni admitted that CSK are struggling to get their line-ups right.
“If you see the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the conditions, we are struggling with both bat and ball,” Dhoni had said.
Key match-ups
CSK’s young recruit Ayush Mhatre, who grabbed eyeballs on his IPL debut, will look to put on a strong display when he takes on Arshdeep Singh in the powerplay.
The most entertaining battle is expected to be between Shivam Dube and Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs.
Chahal has been in magnificent form for PBKS in the second half of the tournament, and it would be interesting to see how the CSK middle order handles him.
Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have been in good form for PBKS while opening the batting and the onus would be on left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed to contain the duo.
In skipper Shreyas Iyer, PBKS have got a batter, who can control the pace of the game, but CSK would rely on Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad to deliver the goods.
At 43, Dhoni has shown glimpses of his legendary finishing skills but despite being a shrewd tactician, he is struggling to field a winning combination on the field.
Rachin Ravindra too has been inconsistent at the top. The struggles of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Matheesha Pathirana haven’t helped CSK’s cause either.
On the batting front, the likes of Vijay Shakar, Deepak Hooda and Rahul Tripathi have been below par.
In Marco Jansen, PBKS have a very good all-rounder, while the bowling unit will be spearheaded by Arshdeep and Chahal.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c&wk), Dewald Brevis, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Shaik Rasheed, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddharth, Ayush Mhatre, Rachin Ravindra, Ravichandran Ashwin, VIjay Shankar, Sam Curran, Anshul Kamboj, Deepak Hooda, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Matheesha Pathirana.
PBKS: Shreyas Iyer (c), Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Kuldeep Sen, Pyla Avinash, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan, Harnoor Pannu, Aaron Hardie, Priyansh Arya, Azmatullah Omarzai.
Match starts at 7:30pm IST.
