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New Delhi, Delhi, India
Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai, who have had a four-day break since their thrilling win in Chennai, will today take on Punjab, who lost to Bangalore in their most-recent outing.
Punjab have one win and one loss so far. Despite the loss, one expects they will not make too many changes to the team that took the field on Friday night.
The team got off to a blazing start, but suffered setbacks after losing wickets in clusters that’s something they will try to avoid.
Chennai, on the other hand, have clinched wins from the clutches of their opponents twice now, and they will want to put in a much improved performance.
Against Mumbai, Bravo’s end-overs pyrotechnics took them across the line. While against Kolkata, it was Sam Billings who did the rescue job.
Chennai have been forced to reorganise first Kedar Jadhav suffered an injury and was ruled out of the rest of the season, and now Suresh Raina has been ruled out for at least two matches.
The injury to Raina could mean an opening for Murali Vijay – who is now fully fit and available for selection, and possibly a move down the order for Ambati Rayudu.
Chennai also have experienced players like Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu.
The bowlers were under the pump in the previous game but that was on a track that offered them little and the team would rather dwell on the better bowling performance against Punjab.
Punjab, on the other hand, have been well-served by the spin duo of Ashwin and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who have picked up key wickets and have also helped in the containment bit.
Yuvraj Singh's form remains a concern for the team while Mayank Agarwal hasn't been able to replicate his tremendous domestic success.
Giving a chance to Chris Gayle may work for the Punjab side.
So overall, Chennai does have an upper hand over Punjab.
Probable XI: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Probable XI: Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c), Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur.