Dubai. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who have suffered two consecutive defeats after ensuring a place in the play-offs, will look to regain their winning streak and stay in the top two of the points table when they face Punjab Kings here on Thursday. However, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side is a strong contender for victory against Punjab, which are on the verge of being knocked out of the playoffs.
CSK, who made a stellar comeback this year after forgetting last year’s poor performance, have done well in the UAE stage and it will not be easy to beat them. CSK’s batsmen are in good shape. Ruturaj Gaikwad and veteran South African batsman Faf du Plessis have played well in the top order, while Ambati Rayudu has made useful contributions in the middle order. Moeen Ali has done well with both bowling and batting, but the poor form of Suresh Raina and Dhoni is a cause for concern for CSK.
Ravindra Jadeja has again played his role well as an all-rounder. However, the CSK bowlers were not able to perform well against Rajasthan Royals. They will have to rectify their mistakes soon before the crucial stage of the tournament. Deepak Chahar has taken 12 wickets so far and has given the team a good start on a few occasions. Shardul Thakur has 15 wickets in his name and he will try to maintain his form. Josh Hazlewood and Dwayne Bravo put on a fine display of their skills. Sam Curran has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to an injury, but CSK are not too worried as Bravo is in good shape.
As far as Punjab is concerned, it has not been able to perform consistently well. The team led by KL Rahul is at the sixth position with 10 points. Rahul has scored 528 runs so far, while his Karnataka teammate Mayank Agarwal contributed 429 runs, but his other batsmen have not been able to run, which is going to be a loss for Punjab.
Mohammed Shami (18 wickets) and Arshdeep Singh (16 wickets) have been his stars in the bowling, while Ravi Bishnoi has done well in the spin department. Punjab will be eyeing a big win so that they can keep their bleak hopes of reaching the playoffs alive through if-but equations.
Chennai Super Kings:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, N Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, R Sai Kishore, Moeen Ali, K Gautam, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, Bhagat Verma, C Hari Nishant.
Punjab Kings:
KL Rahul (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Shah Rukh Khan, Muhammad Shami, Nathan Ellis, Adil Rashid, Murugan Ashwin, Harpreet Brar, Moises Henriques, Chris Jordan, Aiden Markram, Mandeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Prabhsimran Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar, Jalaj Saxena.
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