Rejuvenated Chennai Super Kings will eye their fourth consecutive victory against the Kings XI Punjab when the two teams square off in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday.
The 78-run victory against the Deccan Chargers has only added to the growing confidence of the Super Kings as the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team, who fell at the final hurdle last year, are now comfortably placed on the points table.
In contrast, the Punjab team, who lost their last match to the defending champions Rajasthan Royals, have won four matches from the eight they have played, and they will certainly count upon their batting might to register another win.
Captain Yuvraj Singh, who made a gutsy 37-ball 48 for a losing cause against the Royals, is the mainstay of their batting line-up with Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene and Australian Simon Katich joining him in the middle order.
After young opener Sunny Sohal’s duck in the Royals match, Yuvraj might opt for the previous combination at the beginning of the innings and may himself pair up with their Sri Lankan import Kumar Sangakkara.
Their left-arm pacer Yusuf Abdulla has surely made the batsmen’s life miserable. He is currently holding the purple cap with 14 scalps, but Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth have to lend support to the South African and fire in unison to break the mighty Super Kings batting.
On the other hand, the Chennai team have devastating openers in Matthew Hayden, who has exhibited some superb batting even after retiring from international cricket, and Murali Vijay, who also impressed in the last match.
Besides, much to the cheer of supporters, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has shrugged off his bad patch with a 37-ball 58. His exploits helped the Chennai side romp home in the last match against the Chargers.
The India captain promoted himself up the order in the last match against the Deccan Chargers to spend more time at the crease. It worked wonders for him as he regained his confidence to wreak havoc on the bowlers later on in his innings.
The likes of Suresh Raina, who has played a couple of timely knocks, New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram and South African Albie Morkel will be there in the middle order to provide back up.
While legend Muttiah Muralidharan will keep the batsmen guessing, some timely spells from left-arm tweaker Shadab Jakati may well change the colour of the proceedings.
Their new-ball pair of Morkel and Sudeep Tyagi have not forged a lethal pair, but their ability to pick up some early wickets can leave the opponents in disarray.
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