Home advantage may not work for KXIP in today's match against CSK

King’s XI Punjab (KXIP), Punjab’s home team in the on-going IPL 2018, takes on a confident Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the picturesque Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium in Mohali tonight in the second of the two matches slated for the day.

KXIP’s captain Ravichandran Ashwin, who had earlier been the mainstay of many Test victories under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy a few years back for the national team, would walk out with Dhoni for the toss after being part of Dhoni’s CSK in its earlier two IPL victories.

CSK marked its successful return to IPL by winning its first two games (both were close ones, though) but its fans back home in Chennai and elsewhere would surely rue the absence of Ravi Ashwin in the team.  Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils convincingly in its opening game but lost narrowly to Virat Kohli’s Royal Challangers Bangalore (RCB) in its second game.  KXIP would surely look to turn the tide against CSK on Sunday.

However, CSK has the upper hand between the two teams, winning 10 out of their 16 head-to-head ties; in fact, CSK holds the edge even in matches between the two teams held at Mohali so far by winning 3 out of their 4 encounters as on date.  As such, the ‘home advantage’ may not work in KXIP’s favour as Dhoni and his team-mates (including some foreign players) are popular in all parts of the country.

Punjab has a few worries on the bowling front with Mohit Sharma not hitting the right line and length but is happy about its Afghan import Mujeeb, who was taken to the cleaners by RCB’s AB de Villiers in one over.  Ashwin, Andrew Tye and Axar Patel have been doing well for Punjab which sure hopes that the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair and David Miller would come to the party when the team bats.

CSK would be missing the services of Suresh Rain, who has won many matches single-handedly in the past for CSK as well as for India, as he has been ruled out of action for a week.  With the likes of Dhoni, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, the new-found match-winner Sam Billings, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and du Plessis, CSK won’t be found wanting in the batting department.

It promises to be a cracker of the match and commences at 08:00 p.m.

Players to watch out for:

CSK: Dhoni, Watson, Rayudu, Billings, Bravo, Thair, Harbhajan
KXIP: KL Rahul, Yuvraj, Karun Nair, Ashwin, Mujeeb, Axar Patel