Dharamshala, defending champions Chennai Super Kings will look to clean up their squad and get back to winning ways when they face an upbeat but unpredictable Kings XI Punjab for the second consecutive time in an IPL match on Sunday.
Just three days ago, PBKS defeated CSK by seven wickets in Chepauk, considered their fortress.
Two defeats in the last three home games have put Chennai in a difficult position. They sit fifth in the table with 10 points and the five-time champions will hope a change of venue will also bring about a change in fortunes as they seal a knockout spot with four games remaining.
CSK failed to pick up the tempo against the spin combination of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar in the middle order, resulting in them falling to a sub-par 162-7.
Their batting relies too much on skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and six-hitting machine Shivam Dubey, and once one of them fails, it leaves the door open for the others who fail to save the team consistently. Come on pressure.
While Gaikwad notched his fifth fifty-over score of the season, veteran Ajinkya Rahane once again failed to make the most of his opening opportunities while Ravindra Jadeja Jadeja and Sameer Rizvi struggled with spin.
CSK has also been plagued by health and fitness issues with pacers, including Deepak Chahar, who strained his hamstring after playing just two balls and is likely to miss the reverse fixture against PBKS Contest.
The absence of frontline bowlers Matheesha Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande for the first few days didn’t help either. Coupled with the dew factor, which kept the spinners out of the equation, PBKS came home comfortably.
While Richard Gleeson made his IPL debut in the last game, CSK may bring back Mukesh Choudhury.
Kings XI Punjab, on the other hand, enjoyed a resurgence as they notched back-to-back wins to reignite their playoff hopes.
In defeating CSK, Punjab became the second team after Mumbai Indians to defeat the defending champions five times in a row and they will take their chances.
Punjab remains an unpredictable team despite defeating Gujarat in Ahmedabad, Chennai in Chepauk and equaling the T20 record against KKR at home It has struggled against RR, SRH and Gujarat.
With back-to-back wins, PBKS climb to seventh place with eight points and will need to keep up the momentum to salvage their slim hopes.
Jonny Bairstow, who scored a hundred against KKR, will be their first choice, while Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh will also have to put their hands up.
PBKS’ bowling department, which has experienced players like Kagiso Rabada, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Sam Curran, needs to maintain consistency.
Rabada was great the other day, but everyone else was running. If PBKS has to repeat its performance against CSK, spinners Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar will have to perform well again.
Interestingly, the first IPL match played at the Dharmasala Stadium was the 2010 match between Chennai and Punjab. The field offers plenty of running and dew is still a factor, making it an enticing game.
team:
CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Aravelly Avanish, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, RS Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Nishant Sindhu, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande , Mukesh Choudhary, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Shardul Thakur, Maheesh Theekshana and Sameer Rizvi.
PBKS: Shikhar Dhawan, Matthew Short, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhusimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Thede, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet ·Bula, Rahul Chahal, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw .
Game starts: 7.30pm.
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.