IPL-2024: Chennai Super Kings to take on Punjab Kings at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai
In IPL, Chennai Super Kings will face Punjab Kings at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The match will start today at 7.30 pm.
For the second time this season, Chennai Super Kings will have back-to-back games against the same opposition, facing Punjab Kings first at home and then away three days later. The first leg of that comes on the back of their comprehensive win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the same venue a couple of nights ago. That they have won four out of their five home games so far builds up an imposing challenge for the Punjab Kings. They, however, would be high on confidence after a record chase that reversed a four-match losing streak.
The power-hitting success though could come for some questioning as they come to Chennai which has been in better bowling form overall. Despite Chennai’s success otherwise, there have been some chinks in the armour that have been exposed particularly with batting and bowling upfront. The change in opening combination has not worked as well as they would have liked, and so too their lack of penetration upfront with the new ball.
The lack of swing has been cited as an area of concern by their coaches, as has the lack of penetration with spin due to the dew factor. Their success has come with with some heavy lifting done by the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube and Matheesha Pathirana largely but they would be aiming for a more collective display from the team which has been lacking in the season, with the upturn in form of Daryl Mitchell being a step in that direction.
They run into a side that has threatened to be better on the field but has been on the wrong side of several close results. Their deafening win thus augurs well in their attempt to turn a corner. They have some key players returning to better form to complement the impetus provided by some of their lesser-fancied players, and would be hoping for a knock-on effect as they head into two encounters against CSK with a lot of promise.
Squads:
Punjab Kings Squad: Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran(c), Rilee Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Tanay Thyagarajan, Liam Livingstone, Sikandar Raza, Chris Woakes, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Shikhar Dhawan
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Daryl Mitchell, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Sameer Rizvi, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Maheesh Theekshana, Nishant Sindhu, Aravelly Avanish, Richard Gleeson
