Chennai Super Kings have so far looked like anything but IPL’s defending champions and to effect a turnaround, new skipper Ravindra Jadeja will seek improvements on multiple fronts against Punjab Kings here on Sunday.
CSK’s title defense has begun on a disappointing note. After going down to Kolkata Knight Riders in the tournament opener, they lost to new entrants Lucknow Super Giants.
While the batting unit failed to fire in the opening game, heavy dew made life difficult for the bowlers as they failed to defend a target in excess of 200 runs.
The toss is already playing a significant role in the outcome of the games. With the second innings dew in mind, teams are opting to chase and CSK will hope to be better prepared to bowl with the wet ball.
The CSK bowling attack is also feeling the absence of pacers Deepak Chahar and Adam Milne and death-over specialist Chris Jordan. They were forced to bowl all-rounder Shivam Dube in the penultimate over against Lucknow, which cost them 25 runs and took the match away from them.
Dwayne Bravo, now IPL’s leading wicket-taker, has been the standout performer, but he needs support from others.
Punjab Kings, on the other hand, have quite a few big hitters in their ranks, but they faltered against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Coming from a six-wicket defeat, they will be eager to return to winning ways and would expect the batters to step up.
With Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa at the top, Punjab can dominate the opposition attack with ease.
Odean Smith and Shahrukh Khan are also known to tonk the ball and will need to play the finisher’s role on a more consistent basis.
Punjab, who added Kagiso Rabada to their attack, came up short against Andre Russell. They would quickly need to regroup and forget the hammering and bowl in the right areas.
Match details:
Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings IPL 2022 match no. 11
Venue: Brabourne Stadium
Date and time: April 3 at 7:30 pm IST.
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network, Star Gold and Disney+Hotstar
CSK vs PBKS Dream 11 Prediction
Captain – Robin Uthappa
Vice-Captain – Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Keepers – Bhanuka Rajapaksa, MS Dhoni
Batters – Robin Uthappa, Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal
All-rounders – Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Liam Livingstone
Bowlers – Dwayne Bravo, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada
CSK vs PBKS Probable Playing XI
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (c), Dwaine Pretorius, Shivam Dube, Dwayne Bravo, Mukesh Choudhary, Tushar Deshpande
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (wk), Odean Smith, Shahrukh Khan, Raj Bawa, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar
