XtraTime Web Desk: Injury stricken Chennai Super Kings will look to continue their winning momentum in the Indian Premier League when they will face the mighty Kings XI Punjab at Mohali tomorrow.
After registering a thrilling win against Mumbai Indians in their opening game, the Men in yellow pulled out another classy win against Kolkata Knight Riders at Chepauk a few days back.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be quite pleased after seeing the forms Dwayne Bravo and Sam Billings.
Chennai team has enough fire power in their batting line up with the likes of Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Billings and Bravo.
The spin department of CSK is very good as well which comprises of Harbhajan Singh, Jadeja and Imran Tahir and they are well backed by a good pace attack of Deepak Chahar, Watson and Shardul Thakur.
On the other hand, home side Kings XI Punjab will look to get back to the winning ways after their loss against Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The KXIP started the season on a resounding note, beating Delhi Daredevils by six wickets.
Local player KL Rahul, who fashioned the victory with the fastest-ever fifty in IPL, justified why the franchise spent Rs 11 crore for him.
Rahul smashed a 30-ball 47 against RCB and had Punjab not lost wickets in quick succession, they could have notched up a bigger total than the 155 they managed while batting first.
A cause of concern for KXIP is the form of their top batsman Yuvraj Singh, who has made 12 and 4 in the two games while in the bowling department, Mohit Sharma looked off colour against RCB.
Ashwin has been in good form with his bowling and has contributed with the bat as well.
Playing his maiden innings as a captain, Ashwin has also been marshalling his men nicely.
In the batting department, there are high expectations from Aaron Finch, who was unavailable for the opening match, but failed with the bat against RCB.
Punjab’s bowlers are doing a fine job with 17-year-old spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman surprising the batsmen with his unconventional deliveries. He was even rewarded with the prize wicket of RCB skipper Virat Kohli.
Apart from Ashwin, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb, Axar Patel and Andrew Tye add depth to Punjab’s bowling attack.
Teams (from):
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Kanishk Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), AJ Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Chris Gayle.