After facing the brunt of a Glenn Maxwell assault, Chennai Super Kings will look to bounce back with a victory over the Delhi Daredevils in their IPL 7 encounter in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
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The match is scheduled for a 6.30 pm local time (8 pm IST, 3.30 pm GMT, 10.30 am ET) start with live coverage on Sony Max and Sony Six in India. Watch the game via live streaming in India HERE or HERE. Audience from the rest of the world can catch the IPL action HERE, HERE or through the GoCricket apps. Viewers in the US can live stream the action HERE, while audience in Canada can do the same HERE.
Viewers in the Middle East and North Africa can catch the action on OSN and with the link HERE, while New Zealand viewers can do the same through Sky NZ HERE. Viewers in the UK can catch the action live on ITV, while Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will have coverage via Geo Super, Maasaranga TV and Carlton Sports Network respectively.
CSK would have thought they were set for an opening victory, having posted 205 against the Kings XI Punjab, thanks to rollicking half-centuries from their new openers Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum.
However, a Maxwell special, and a David Miller support act, turned the tables on the Chennai side, consigning MS Dhoni and co. to another slow start in the IPL.
"This is not the first time that we have lost the first match of the tournament," CSK spinner R Ashwin said. "We generally start off slowly and then catch up momentum going into the tournament. So, there is nothing to worry about."
All eight teams are still adapting to the different conditions and differing wickets in the UAE and Ashwin admitted CSK were also still very much in a learning process.
"This is the first time I am playing in the UAE and it has been a very different experience for me," he added. "The wickets have been a bit different in terms of bounce and turn, and it has taken some time to get used to them.
"Every team is learning from their mistakes and experience. If you guys observed, after our first match here, the teams playing the second game (Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals) learnt from watching us and brought the fielders in."
While this will be only CSK's second game of IPL 7, the Daredevils will be playing their third, having lost their first match to RCB before notching their first win of the tournament against KKR on Saturday.
Dinesh Karthik and JP Duminy came to the fore for the Daredevils in the second game, chasing down a stiff target of 167 with great effect against the formidable Kolkata bowling lineup. Delhi will now be keen to carry forward that momentum against CSK.
"It was a good all-round performance by the guys," Daredevils fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile told IPL's official website. "The batting performance was good right from the very start with Mayank Agarwal getting us off to a flier. He was fantastic and so were Dinesh Karthik and JP Duminy, who got us home beautifully."
The Daredevils, though, will again have to do without the services of skipper Kevin Pietersen, who has not recovered sufficiently enough from a finger injury to take the field.
"He [Pietersen] is getting better, I can tell you that much. We are monitoring him closely and definitely the first chance we have we will get him to play."
