IPL 2023: Chennai Super Kings, led by charismatic captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will look to secure their place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs by registering a win against Delhi Capitals in the match to be held here on Saturday.
The Delhi team is already out of the playoff race and will leave no stone unturned to spoil Chennai’s equation by ending this season with a win.
Chennai in second place with 15 points in 13 matches
Chennai’s team is currently in second place with 15 points from 13 matches but a defeat against Delhi will dim its chances of reaching the playoffs. A win in this match will seal Chennai’s place in the playoffs but whether it will finish second or not will be decided by the match between Lucknow Supergiants and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Lucknow also has 15 points but Chennai’s net run rate is better than that. The Feroz Shah Kotla wicket is slow which suits Chennai’s strategy. Dhoni, possibly playing his last match in the national capital, will look to make the most of the conditions.
Batting Chennai’s strong side
Batting is Chennai’s strong side. In the top order, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane are giving good starts to the team. However, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali need to provide good support to Shivam Dubey in the middle overs. Dhoni has shown a good example of his aggressive batting in the death overs and the team will expect similar performances from the captain again.
In bowling, Tushar Deshpande has proved expensive but has grabbed wickets while young Sri Lankan pacer Mathisha Pathirana has played his role well. Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Mahesh Tikshna have also made a good impression in the spin department. As far as Delhi is concerned, they lost five matches in a row in the first phase but after that they found some momentum and won five out of the next eight matches.
The Delhi team will enter this match on the back of a morale-boosting 15-run win over the Punjab Kings. The team led by David Warner will play without any pressure in this match as well and in such a situation Chennai will have to be cautious about it.
Barring Akshar Patel, the other Indian batsmen in Delhi’s squad have failed this season but overseas batsmen Captain Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Phil Salt and Rilee Rossouw have played good innings. In all the matches that Delhi has won so far, the role of its bowlers has been important.
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have handled the spin department well while pacers Ishant Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed have also done well. South African fast bowler Anrich Norkia has also found his rhythm.
Teams are as follows:
Delhi Capitals: David Warner (c), Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Hakim Khan, Abhishek Porel (wk), Akshar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Rovman Powell, Riley Rossouw, Enrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakaria, Mukesh Kumar, Phil Salt, Lungi Engidi, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Ripple Patel, Vicky Ostwal, Ishant Sharma, Manish Pandey, Yash Dhul, Priyam Garg.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Akash Singh, Moeen Ali, Bhagat Verma, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangergekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mondal, Mathisha Pathirana, Dwayne Pretorius, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rashid, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjit Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Ben Stokes, Mahesh Tikshna.
Match Timings: The match will start at 3:30 pm Indian time.
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