Many problems to solve for Dhoni and CSK at IPL 2020.
Welcome to the KXIP v CSK Live Blog. Click here to update and see the latest updates. If you have comments, opinions and have discovered something interesting, send them by Twitter to @Narbavi
Toss & Teams: KXIP chooses to hit
CSK are not modified. KXIP brings Mandeep Singh, Chris Jordan and Harpreet Brar instead of Karun Nair, James Neesham and K Gowtham.
Super Kings of Chennai (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (w / c), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): KL Rahul (w / c), Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Jordan, Harpreet Brar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell
Pre-game reading
Purnima set the game very well in its preview. “CSK has the lowest average, the second lowest run rate and has lost the most wickets within the first six overs of this powerplay. KXIP is the best PP bowling team in this tournament.”
Read the full preview here.
Prelude: KXIP v CSK
Bottoms and Chennai Super Kings in the same sentence is something you never would have dared to imagine all these years at IPL. For a team that has always made sure to finish in the top 4, CSK are fighting big this season. They have easily been the worst team of this edition with their fights mainly around the willow in hand. Despite opening the campaign with a complete victory over the nemesis Indians of Mumbai, they have now managed to lose three in a row and the routine must stop.
Before his fourth game, MS Dhoni talked about the need to get off to a good start with the bat, but nothing changed despite dropping Murali Vijay. The return of Ambati Rayudu did little and Faf du Plessis finally had a bad game after carrying that batting lineup in the first three meetings.
Shane Watson’s form has been a major cause for concern and it remains to be seen if he is given another chance tonight. There is a case for Sam Curran to be promoted as he has shown a lot of promise with the bat thus far contributing cameos in the order. Rayudu, who delivered the opening night, will have to take more responsibility. And Dhoni, without a doubt, has to show more determination and not leave it too late. In the three losses thus far, CSK left things too late and needed more than 70 runs from the last 4 overs each time. To make life easier, the races should arrive in the first half of the innings.
But how easy will it be for them tonight? They face the only side that is in the same boat as them in terms of points. The Kings XI Punjab have also scored just one lone victory so far, but the only similarity between these two sides is in that column of points. KXIP have looked much better than CSK this season and have made the most of their opportunities, they could easily have had a 3-1 record in their favor instead of 1-3. Its beginnings have been incredible so far and the intermediate order has largely been untested and that is an area where attention is required. His game of death bowling has been poor and Chris Jordan is expected to reinforce him tonight.
Even though these are the first days of the tournament, the team that loses tonight will already start to press the panic button and that makes it an extremely vital clash. Welcome to the live blog of this intriguing second game of the day.
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