The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Thursday. It is the 45th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 and the second meeting for the teams this season.
Overview:
The teams played against each other earlier this season which CSK won by 10 wickets. KXIP will be keen to take revenge on Thursday.
CSK are on a six-match winning streak, the last being the 37-run win against Pune Warriors India. They are currently placed comfortably at the top of the table with 16 points, four points clear of other teams. They have won eight of the 10 matches played so far. The two-time champions will be looking forward to keep the momentum going.
KXIP are getting into the game after back-to-back defeats. They are currently placed sixth on the table with eight points after winning four of the nine games played so far. They lost to Mumbai Indians in the previous game. Knowing that a few wins will take them to the final four, they will be keen to win the remaining games.
Previous Meetings:
CSK and KXIP have played against each other 11 times in the past, out of which the former won seven and the latter four. CSK beat KXIP by 10 wickets in their earlier meeting this season.
Team News:
Chennai Super Kings: Skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath helped the team put up a total of 164 in the previous match, which they won. Michael Hussey is good form. They also have Wriddhiman Saha and Dwayne Bravo. They will expect the top order to give a good start so that Dhoni and others can add some quick runs in the later part of the game.
On the bowling front, they took nine wickets with Mohit Sharma taking three. They also have Dirk Nannes, Ankit Rajpoot, Chris Morris, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo in the attack. They need to work on consistency as they have let opponents to put up big totals in a few matches.
Kings XI Punjab: Skipper Adam Gilchrist was finally dropped from the playing XI following continuous poor performance this season. In-form David Hussey, David Miller and Praveen Kumar gave a good fight in the previous match against Mumbai Indians but the failure of the top order - Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra and Shaun Marsh - cost them the game. They need to pull up their socks and ensure a good start.
They have Praveen Kumar, Azhar Mahmood, Parvinder Awana, Piyush Chawla, Harmeet Bansal, Ryan Harris and Manpreet Gony in the bowling attack but their performance in the previous match was far from impressive. They took only three wickets in the previous game, letting the opponents amass 174 runs.
Prediction:
Going by their performance this season, CSK should beat KXIP on Thursday.
SQUADS:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, Ankit Rajpoot, Baba Aparajith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ben Laughlin, Chris Morris, Dirk Nannes, Dwayne Bravo, Francois du Plessis, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jason Holder, Michael Hussey, Mohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Nuwan Kulasekara, R Karthikeyan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ronit More, Shadab Jakati, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha
Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (C), Azhar Mahmood, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, David Hussey, David Miller, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Luke Pomersbach, Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh, Manpreet Gony, Nitin Saini, Parvinder Awana, Paul Valthaty, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Rajagopal Sathish, Ryan Harris, Sandeep Sharma, Shaun Marsh, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh
Where To Watch Live
The match will begin at 4:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
