CSK to get back to winning ways against KXIP in last league match today

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) are all set to play their last league match in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament today at the MCA Stadium, Pune, which is CSK's 'home' ground for the season.

While CSK has already qualified for the play-off stage, the next level of the tournament which commences on Tuesday (22nd May), KXIP faces an uphill task to make it to the play-off stage. As of now, CSK, SRH and KKR (thanks to its win yesterday over points-table topper SRH) have qualified for the play-off stages. The fourth slot is up for grabs as it would be a toss-up between RR, MI and KXIP. Unfortunately, RCB (which lost its crucial match against RR yesterday) and DD have been knocked out of the tournament.

MI, which already has the best net run rate among all the teams, has to win against DD this evening with a higher net run-rate to knock off RR from the fourth spot to qualify for the play-offs. On the other hand, KXIP has a weak (-0.49) run rate and it would be nothing short of a herculean task for it to amass runs at will against CSK's disciplined bowling attack (found wanting in recent times, though) to take its net run rate above that of MI and RR.

Surprisingly enough, CSK has had a mixed bag in its last six matches, winning one and losing the other in succession, as if following a set pattern. Despite most members being in their thirties, CSK is a very strong team and is touted by many to win the title. CSK's toughest challengers to win the title might be KKR and MI (if it qualifies for the play-offs).

Of late, CSK's 'death' bowling has been found wanting in its recent outings and Dwayne Bravo, in particular, has been taken for tons of runs during these stages, which has put a huge question mark over his ability to deliver in this crucial stage. CSK had long relied on him to bowl the 18th and 20th overs but it might be forced to look for another alternative in the form of Lungi Ngidi or Deepak Chahar (who rarely bowls during ‘death’). Shardul Thakur, with his ‘knuckle balls’, has come good on some occasions but he would have to perform consistently in the death overs.

CSK’s batting stuttered in its last encounter against DD on Friday when it couldn’t chase a par-score of 162 and fell way behind by losing the match by 34 runs. Under M.S. Dhoni, the ‘captain cool’ of Indian cricket’, the team would have to pull up its socks and put up an admirable show against KXIP tonight so that it gears itself up to face tougher battles during the play-offs and probably during the final too!

In-form Lokesh Rahul, who has been playing exceptionally in the last few matches, might pose a quite few problems for CSK’s bowlers.

Players to watch-out for:

CSK: Watson, Rayudu, Jadeja, Dhoni
KXIP: Rahul, Ashwin, Rajpoot, Mujeeb