Playing XI
Recommended C/VC options:
- KL Rahul
- Chris Gayle
- Sam Curran
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
These are top performers and will likely give good points if they play well today. So, Safe and H2H will mostly be these 4 players mostly used by users.
Ravindra Jadeja
He has scored 106 runs in the last 5 matches. Interestingly all of his runs have come at a SR of 172 this season.
Good value buy for your team.
Glenn Maxwell
50 runs and 2 wickets is what Maxwell has achieved in his last 4 matches, thus looking way more settled now than earlier.
He has a batting average of 38 and SR of 188, both of which is his personal best against current IPL opponents.
Another value buy for your team. You can even shuffle between picking Jadeja or Maxwell.
Sam Curran
With 13 wickets, Sam Curran is the leading wicket taker for Chennai this season. Also, he is the only player to have a double of 10+ wickets and 150+ runs this season; thus proving his all-round ability.
Must pick for your team!
Lungi Ngidi
Ngidi has played only 3 matches this season but has put up performances of 2/34, 1/56 and 3/38. Stat alert: He only has played once against Punjab in the IPL and in that match he produced his career best figures of 4/10.
Mohammed Shami
With 20 wickets, Shami is tied at the 3rd position in the list of Purple Cap holders. He was wicketless in the last match but before that he was among wickets in each of his last 7 matches (12 wickets in these matches).
Deepak Chahar
He has slowly started to perform as the ball has started to swing which was missing earlier. Being wicket-less in the last match, do watch out for him as he has come back strongly after every wicket-less match so far this season.
Chris Gayle
Back to back 50+ scores (99 in the last match and 51 in the match before).
In just 6 matches he has managed to score 276 runs.
Average of 46pts per match which is a good pick for your team.
KL Rahul
The Orange cap holder KL Rahul with 641 runs should be a no brainer pick.
His scores against Chennai in the last 3 matches: 63 (this season), 71 and 55.
Ambati Rayudu
He is the 2nd highest run-getter for Chennai this season with 329 runs. With scores of 38 and 39 in the recent two matches, he looks in good rhythm. Also, his highest score of this season (71) came at Abu Dhabi.
Value buy and player who has some form.
Probable XI
Chennai - 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
Punjab - KL Rahul (c/wk), Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Jordan, M Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Sheldon Cottrell, Mohammed Shami
Preview
Final double-header of the 2020 season! It is Chennai vs Punjab in the afternoon game in Abu Dhabi. With the pressure of qualifying taken off, MS Dhoni's bunch seems a rejuvenated unit.
The batting is coming unit while the bowling is holding itself together. And what about Rutura Gaikwad? The young man seems to pack a punch with his strokeplay.
Moving over to Punjab, they have perhaps been the most inspirational team this season, in terms of comebacks.
A loss to Rajasthan snatched their golden chance of direct qualification for the playoffs but they will aim to win this and join the queue of teams with 14 points.
The last encounter yielded a 10-wicket loss against an indifferent Chennai. What will a Chennai with nothing-to-lose produce? More to follow...
Toss : Chennai won the toss and elected to bowl first.