Match details
Chennai Super Kings (third) vs Punjab Kings (eighth)
Chennai, 1930 IST (1400 GMT)
Big picture – Gaikwad’s new gear as CSK (almost) end home stretch
The advantages of home comforts. The familiarity, the close circles, the minimal travel, the option of having everything around you.
What stands out is that his game has not changed while shifting gears. He has been relying on fours more than sixes, he chooses his aggressive shots carefully, and his control percentage stands at 85.40% in the powerplay this IPL, the best after 46 games this season. These scores and scoring rates bode well for CSK even more because whenever Gaikwad hits a fifty, their chances of winning the game go up to 73.68%, only worse than Shubman Gill’s 78.26% for Gujarat Titans and Suryakumar Yadav’s 73.91% for MI.
CSK have scored over 200 batting first in two of their last three games but they may need a lot more against a fired-up opposition. PBKS’ top order finally stood up in Kolkata, meaning it wasn’t just ShAshutosh (Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma) getting their runs. A return to form for Jonny Bairstow and Prabhsimran Singh may have come a bit too late, but another cracking start from them will help the PBKS bowling unit, which has conceded 200 or more just once in IPL 2024.
Form guide
Chennai Super Kings WLLWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Punjab Kings WLLLL
Team news and impact player strategy
Chennai Super Kings
This will be Mustafizur’s last game. He flies home for Bangladesh’s T20Is against Zimbabwe starting May 3. They’re unlikely to make any changes to the XI or XII with Ajinkya Rahane or Shivam Dube likely to be as an Impact Player for a bowler.
Probable XII 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 3 Daryl Mitchell, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Tushar Deshpande, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Matheesha Pathirana, 12 Shardul Thakur
Shikhar Dhawan could be fit for this game, but PBKS will take a final call on him on match-day. His availability could leave the management scratching their heads because it will force them to omit an in-form India batter for someone who hasn’t played in three weeks and was striking at just over 125 at the top before that.
Probable XII: 1 Prabhsimran Singh, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 5 Sam Curran (capt), 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Ashutosh Sharma, 8 Harpreet Brar, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Harpreet Singh
In the spotlight – Shivam Dube and Rilee Rossouw
Stats that matter
- MS Dhoni needs another three sixes to complete 250 IPL sixes, Dube needs one more to get to 100.
- Dhoni has won 150 games in the IPL, the most for an individual player.
- PBKS have a 4-1 head-to-head against CSK since 2021 with victories in all four of their last meetings.
- PBKS will hope Kagiso Rabada continues his run against Gaikwad. The match-up says 56 runs off 48 balls with three dismissals.
- But will PBKS be brave enough to save a Rabada over for the death just for Dhoni? He has conceded just 10 runs off 22 balls against Dhoni, with one dismissal in all T20s.
- Harshal Patel, who has been much better in the death overs recently, can also boast of an impressive record against Dhoni: 25 off 32 with one dismissal.
Pitch and conditions
The last four games at the Chepauk have all favoured batting, with scores regularly breaching the now not-so-insurmountable 200 mark, and with sides batting first and chasing winning two games apiece. Dew, however, has been a regular visitor there, including on Tuesday night, which might still make bowling first the preferred choice. There is currently a heat warning in Chennai with temperatures expected to hit 37 degrees Celsius with a heavy dose of humidity.
Quotes
“Mustafizur has been outstanding in conditions that probably don’t even suit his bowling. The surfaces here have been full of pace and there has been dew. His adjustment has been great. We understand international [duty] comes first, but he’s been a great addition to the side.”
CSK head coachStephen Fleming on the left-arm quick
“From a young boy, he has grown into a man. Cricket-wise, he’s thinking a lot more about his game. At practice, he doesn’t over-train, which is a good sign.”
PBKS fast-bowling coach Charl Langeveldt on their own left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo