Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the IPL 2020 match between Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and KL Rahul’s Kings XI Punjab in Dubai.

TOSS UPDATE:  KL Rahul has won the toss and Punjab will bat first.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni(w/c), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Jordan, Harpreet Brar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell

PITCH REPORT: “If you’re batting first for the majority of the games, you’re winning. So, I don’t see that changing. We do have a shorter boundary tonight, there is a 66 metre boundary but we do have a bigger boundary which is like 85-86 metres to my left, straight down the ground not much. I would like to tell you that it’s 21 balls per six here in Dubai, Abu Dhabi 22 balls per six and in Sharjah it’s only 8 balls per six,” says Kevin Pietersen.

Right, we are just 30 minutes away from the toss. Two teams, who have struggled for momentum so far, will lock horns in Dubai and hope for their fortunes to turn for the good. It will be interesting to see how many changes – if any – CSK and KXIP ring in for tonight’s match. Will Gayle finally get a game? Will Josh Hazlewood find a place in the CSK XI? While Punjab’s openers Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul have been in sensational form, Chennai’s Shane Watson and Murali Vijay have struggled to get going. Chennai might consider promoting the in-form Sam Curran up the order, especially if it is chasing a tall target. You’d imagine he is wasted lower down the order.

BUILD-UP

Meanwhile, a major shot in the arm for Rajasthan Royals as Ben Stokes lands in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Royals’ middle-order could use some firepower.

Both sides have just a win from four outings and would desperately want to get their campaign back on track to escape the bottom trenches of the points table. Here’s our preview – READ

Chennai Super Kings slumped to its third successive defeat as the MS Dhoni-led team fell short by seven runs in its chase of 165 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Here’s Dhoni’s frank assessment of his team’s performance thus far – READ

Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab have faced each other 21 times in the IPL so far, with CSK holding a 12-9 head-to-head win/loss record over KXIP – READ

Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming lashed out at reporters wanting to know why Kedar Jadhav went in to bat ahead of M. S. Dhoni against Sunrisers Hyderabad – READ

KL Rahul is considered one of the most destructive batsmen in the world. The India international knows what it takes to perform under pressure. Here’s more on our IPL 2020 Star Batsman of the Week – READ

From M. S. Dhoni’s century of IPL wins to Shikhar Dhawan’s run out record, here are all the statistics from the Indian Premier League – READ

Watch: Why Dhoni as a finisher does not work – CSK vs SRH match review