(Cricket news) Having lost two matches in a row Stephen Fleming would want his side to win and consolidate their position in the top two. On the other hand Punjab need to win big to even have the slightest chance of qualifying for the playoffs. For Punjab to even stand a chance of qualification, they need to overcome CSK by more than 70 runs and hope KKR and MI both lose.
CSK suffered a major blow as Sam Curran was not only ruled out of the IPL but also the World T20, CSK have signed West Indian all rounder Dominc Drakes as his replacement, Suresh Raina might again be rested for this match as he is having niggling back problems. Faf du Plessis has mostly played second fiddle to Ruturaj Gaikwad in the second leg of the IPL but he loves playing against PBKS as he enjoys a good record against Shami who has bowled at 38 balls conceding 69 times and only dismissing him once in IPL. Stephen Fleming might just take the gamble of promoting MS Dhoni up the order as this season he has struggled to score runs as he has scored 84 runs at a strike rate of 98.
PBKS again will be dependent on their openers as they have constituted around 49% of their runs this season. The middle order this season has been the reason for their downfall as players like Deepak Hooda and Nicholas Pooran have shown no consistency in their performance. The only bright spot this season can be the emergence of youngsters in their campaign as the likes of Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Shah Rukh Khan have all impressed and will hope to continue their rich vein of form against CSK. KL Rahul will again look to capitalize on the powerplay as he got a wonderful record against Deepak Chahar, having scored 86 off 63 deliveries without getting dismissed.
Head to head: CSK 15 – 9 PBKS, the last time they met CSK won by 6 wickets as Deepak Chahar picked up 4/13 in a match winning spell.
Pitch and weather report: Batting continues to be a struggle in the Dubai International Stadium as 150 becomes a challenging score on these wickets but being the first afternoon match being played on this venue for the first things might change. The temperature is going to hover around 37-39degrees with no chance of rain.
Interesting facts:
- KL Rahul is 28 runs away from becoming PBKS highest run getter in IPL
- PBKS will become the first side not to qualify for the playoffs in seven successive seasons
- Dwayne Bravo has 23 wickets in 18 matches against PBKS
- Shardul Thakur has an economy rate of 5.53 in the middle overs this IPL
- Shah Rukh Khan is the only PBKS middle order batsman to have a strike rate 130
Also read: Harshal Patel crosses Jasprit Bumrah’s record in match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL
Probable XI of Chennai Super Kings:
1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Robin Uthappa/Suresh Raina, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Probable XI of Punjab Kings:
1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Sarfaraz Khan/Deepak Hooda, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Moises Henriques, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep Singh
