Struggling to find half decent starts with the bat, Chennai Super Kings ideally wouldn’t have liked this match up early on against the best bowling side in powerplays in IPL 2020, the Kings XI Punjab. And yet here they are, playing their third straight game in Dubai on Sunday, and desperately searching for a win to snap their three-match losing streak since the opening night. CSK have the lowest average, second-lowest run-rate and have lost the joint most wickets inside the first six overs this powerplay – just what KXIP might have wanted though to turn their campaign around.

Not that it’s all hunky-dory in the opposition’s camp, who have lost just as many in their four games so far. For a team that has among the highest run-getters (KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal) and the highest wicket-taker (Mohammed Shami), you’d expect better from Punjab than just the two points. But, despite leading the way in the first 15 overs of their bowling innings, KXIP have consistently lost the plot in the final five which in turn has had a knock-on effect on their batting, resulting in three embarrassing defeats.

The solution? CSK have refrained from tampering with the core of their side, as evident from their auction strategy to add more spinners despite the concerns in their batting camp last edition. So, they’ll keep faith in their match-winners as head coach Stephen Fleming openly admitted, for it’s too early to read into it, and look for answers within. CSK do look better balanced now with the return of Dwayne Bravo and Ambati Rayudu, but it’s the lack of returns from Shane Watson and Kedar Jadhav that’s pulling them down. It wouldn’t probably hurt to take a punt on Rayudu as an opener for a game or two, and allow Watson to find his groove without any pressure of scoring quickly.

From the outside, after their latest defeat to Mumbai Indians, it might seem KXIP are over-reliant on their in-form opening pair of Mayank and skipper Rahul for the runs. But their middle order is actually well stocked with proven game-changers to take on challenging targets. It’s the death bowling that needs to stop landing them in those stiff chases. Punjab’s death overs economy rate of 16.91 is alarmingly high, and the management has some tough calls to make. Or maybe the easiest one – to bring in their death-overs specialist at the cost of a batting-allrounder, and keep faith.

When:October 4, Sunday at 19:30 PM IST

Where:Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai

What to expect: SRH’s victory in CSK’s last outing here was just another instance of team batting first winning the game in IPL 2020, though it was David Warner who opted to put runs on the board that match. Chasing, however, has been preferred by the two captains who’ll be at the toss tomorrow. Expect the trend to continue, in anticipation of dew, even as the early trend suggests otherwise.

Team News

Kings XI Punjab:After a third instance of the opposition feasting on their death bowling, KXIP skipper admitted that an extra bowling option would be nice. A death overs specialist is probably what they need the most. KXIP would likely give their middle-order another shot, and bring back Chris Jordan with Jimmy Neesham making way.

Probable XI:KL Rahul (c/wk), Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Jordan, M Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Sheldon Cottrell, Mohammed Shami

Chennai Super Kings:Though a case could be made for Imran Tahir’s inclusion to add an extra edge to their bowling, that leaves CSK considerably short on batting – already their weak link. CSK have openly backed the underperforming duo of Watson and Jadhav to come good. Given the ample backing the CSK personnel enjoy, it’s unlikely there’ll be any changes to it’s playing XI from the last game for it’s as close as it gets to a balanced XI. Dhoni huffing and puffing wasn’t a pleasant sight for their dugout, but expect the skipper to have recovered from the exhaustion in the game where he first kept for 20 overs and then returned to bat six overs later.

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

Did you know?

– CSK hold a 12-9 head-to-head advantage over KXIP.

– MS Dhoni loves batting against KXIP, having scored 595 runs in 21 innings at a strike rate of nearly 156, and crossing fifty five times.

What they said?