Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will lock horns against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Chepauk Stadium, Chennai. Both teams have won their last match and will be confident to keep the momentum on the winning side. Chennai is playing its third home game in a row and will try to dominate and will keep the winning streak. Currently, CSK is in 4th position with 10 points and Punjab is in 8th position with 6 points.
Journey of CSK & PBKS
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad which marked their 5th win in the tournament. Skipper Ruturaj is dominating with the bat scored 447 runs till now including one century. Shivam Dube who is in red-hot form keeps his pinch-hitting ability to score runs and most importantly, Thala MS Dhoni who is the heartthrob of Chennai plays cameo roles still not out in the last 7 innings, which is a positive sign for Chennai.
Punjab recently broke the losing streak and chased down the highest total in t20 history and is back to winning ways. Since skipper Shikhar Dhawan was injured Punjab was unable to win the matches and Sikander Raza departed for national duty so a proper combination was a concern for Punjab. Bairstow played a crucial knock by scoring a century against Kolkata in a historic chase before this match he was out of form. Bowlers Rabada, Harshal, Harpreet, and Arshdeep who are in decent form despite playing consistently, are not able to clinch wickets at regular intervals.
Match-ups
Chennai skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad who is in solid form loses his wicket on short balls so needs to be attentive on short balls as Rabada might be a game-changer for Punjab. Fire Guns Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh are life saviors for Punjab will face a stingy bowler known as Baby Malinga Matheesha Pathirana who is the backbone for Chennai in bowling this will be the highlight match-up of the match. Harpreet Brar and Shivam Dube will also be a good match-up to see and Arshdeep and MS Dhoni a match-up that the audience won’t miss.
Head-to-Head CSK vs PBKS
Overall CSK 15 – 13 PBKS. PBKS have won three games in Chennai including in 2023, only Mumbai Indians (5 wins) have fared better than them as an ‘away’ team in Chennai.
Pitch Report
The pitch used is set to be a fresh one, but it could be on the drier side as compared to the one used for the Sunrisers Hyderabad game. Dew is expected to play a part as well as it has in the games in Chennai so far.
The toss factor will be important despite having a dew chasing here is not easy and need to be focused while batting second breeze comes throughout the match so that the ball will swing more.