Punjab Kings vs Chennai Super Kings: Who will be able to get back to winning ways?
Match number 38 will witness Punjab Kings taking on Chennai Super Kings in a crucial encounter at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. With the points table shaping nicely after fifty per cent of matches done, Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings find the spots at 8th and 9th place, respectively.
Ravindra Jadeja : Was he the right choice as captain for CSK ?Chennai Super Kings had a horrendous start to the tournament but has managed to win two matches out of the seven and still stand a chance to make a run for the playoffs. In the last clash against Mumbai, MS Dhoni finished the match in his style to help the team win by three wickets. Pacer Mukesh Choudhary has been filling in the shoes of Deepak Chahar quite well. They will need their openers to anchor the innings for the team more swiftly to help them be in the contest. With lots of scope for improvement, Ravindra Jadeja led team will look to perform better with each game and put forward a competitive match.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings started the tournament pretty well but could not be consistent with their performance. With just 2 points more than their opponents today, a loss can result in slipping them down to the ninth spot in the table. They would be taking on Chennai Super Kings K after suffering two consecutive losses and would be eager to bounce back. Though their bowling unit looks good on paper, they haven't been able to perform at their best, be it Kagiso Rabada or Rahul Chahar.
Pitch Report
The pitch at Wankhede has been producing big totals. However, the last two games at the venue have been won by defending the totals; chasing looks to be a preferable trend by the toss winning captain.
Probable Playing XI
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Santner/Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja (C), MS Dhoni (wk), Dwaine Pretorius, Dwayne Bravo, Mahesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary
Stats to keep an eye on
This will be the second time that the two will face each other this season. In their first clash of this season, Punjab Kings registered a resounding victory by 54 runs.
Rahul Chahar's economy rate of 5.8 against Chennai Super Kings is among the best for a bowler against an opponent in the IPL. This will also be his 50th IPL match.
Dwayne Bravo needs nine runs to get to 1000 in the IPL.
It will be an edgy clash between the two, and it will be interesting to see who will pave their way back to winning ways.