Lucknow Super Giants captain K.L. Rahul with his Chennai Super Kings counterpart Ruturaj Gaikwad.
| Photo Credit: AP

hennai Super Kings will look to regain some momentum in what has been a start-stop campaign when it takes on Lucknow Super Giants in the reverse fixture at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on April 23. The two sides met three days back in Lucknow, where LSG easily prevailed by eight wickets.

Super Kings enters a crucial phase of the tournament with three matches at home over the next eight days, which could determine the chance of making the playoffs. CSK has won all three games in its backyard this year and will want to continue that form to add to its four wins.

However, the defending champion has some big headaches to solve, mainly around its struggles in the PowerPlay with both bat and ball.

Runs have dried up for key top-order batters like Rachin Ravindra and Ajinkya Rahane, and the batting relies heavily on Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube. The skipper demoted himself to the number three in the last two matches, and it will be interesting to see if he goes back to open. Similarly, the pacers’ inability to give early breakthroughs will be an area the team needs to address.

Meanwhile, Super Giants had some positives from the previous match. The bowlers set the game up before skipper K.L. Rahul led from the front with a quick-fire half-century alongside Quinton de Kock.

The presence of spinners Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, and M. Siddharth gives the visitors depth in their squad for the conditions in Chepauk as they look to do the double against the five-time champion.

Squads:

Chennai Super Kings: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Nishant Sindhu, Moeen Ali, Mitchell Santner, Shaik Rasheed, Aravelly Avanish, Maheesh Theekshana, RS Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Richard Gleeson and Deepak Chahar.

Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (c & wk), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Prerak Mankad, Arshad Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav and Arshin Kulkarni.

Match start time: 7.30 PM (IST).

Chennai Super Kings player M.S. Dhoni plays a shot during the Indian Premier League 2024 match against Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam on March 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

There are not many better than the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni when it comes to game awareness and that reflected in his maiden outing with the bat this IPL season, said Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming.

The margin of defeat for CSK’s first loss of the season would have been bigger than 20 runs if it was not for Dhoni’s unbeaten 37 off 16 balls at number eight.

Dhoni’s cameo against the Delhi Capitals included a thundering six over extra-cover before he unleashed a one handed maximum over mid-wicket in the 20th over.

The 42-year-old, who last played for India in 2019, had undergone a knee surgery last year.

“It was beautiful wasn’t it. He has been playing incredibly well pre-season. He is coming back from quite a serious injury. His batting has been superb. it gave us a positive vibe towards the end of a tough day.

“To get within 20 (runs of the target) run rate wise is important and he knows that. The way he played was spectacular,” said the former New Zealand captain at the post match press conference on Sunday.

On the first loss of the season, Fleming added: “The result today is a fair reflection of the team’s play tonight. We were a little bit off tonight, we were slow at start in the first six overs of each innings. We gave away too many runs in the first six when we bowled.

“When we batted, they were very good, created pressure and used the conditions very well. The little cameos from David Warner and Rishabh Pant pushed them to a very good score (191/5).”

Was waiting for a long time to perform: Khaleel

Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed’s burst with the new ball put CSK on the backfoot from the outset.

“I was waiting for a long time to perform for the team. When I started, I realised I was getting good swing, so I just backed it up and didn’t allow the opposition any chance,” said Ahmed.

“The more you play, the more you understand your game. The same happened with me as I have been playing continuously for six months, I got to understand my game plans, my body and managing to play in small niggles.

“It all came due to the domestic season, it gave me good confidence before coming into the IPL and it’s been a great feeling.”

Delhi Capitals’ Rishabh Pant speaking to Chennai Super Kings’ M.S. Dhoni after the end of Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings at ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam on March 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

Half-centuries from David Warner (52, 35b, 5×4, 3×6) and Rishabh Pant (51, 32b, 4×4, 3×6), followed by Khaleel Ahmed’s brilliant first spell (3-1-9-2) helped Delhi Capitals beat Chennai Super Kings by 20 runs for its first win of the season at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Sunday.

Electing to bat, Capitals posted 191 for five as openers Warner and Prithvi Shaw laid the foundation with a 93-run partnership before Pant gave the final flourish.

In reply, CSK’s chase went off the rails immediately when left-arm pacer Khaleel (two for 21) removed openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra in his first two overs as only 32 came in the PowerPlay.

DC vs CSK live score, IPL 2024

Revival

Ajinkya Rahane (45) and Daryl Mitchell (34) added 68 runs for the third wicket to keep the defending champion’s hopes alive. But just as they looked to get a move on, Axar Patel had Mitchell caught and bowled. Once Mukesh Kumar struck twice in as many balls to remove Rahane and Sameer Rizvi, it was nearly over for the Super Kings. The sell-out crowd was decked in yellow, and CSK’s fans, though, found some solace when M.S. Dhoni re-wound the clock and brought the roof down with a blistering cameo, smashing an unbeaten 37 (16b, 4×4, 3×6) that included some clean strikes down the ground. However, it came a bit too late for the Men in Yellow.

Earlier in the evening, Warner cut loose in the fifth over with a pick-up shot over midwicket for a six, followed by two boundaries through the off-side off Deepak Chahar. In the next over, Shaw slammed Mustafizur Rahman for a hat-trick of boundaries, as Delhi got to 62/0 in six overs.

Pathirana’s beauties

From 103/1, Delhi slumped to 134/4 as Matheesha Pathirana pulled things back for CSK when he delivered two inch-perfect reverse-swinging yorkers to knock over Mitchell Marsh and Tristan Stubbs in the space of three balls. But Pant ensured Delhi did not squander the start as he took down the Sri Lankan pacer for a six and two fours in one over to get to his half-century. The final flourish from the Delhi skipper meant his side had enough to hand Chennai its first defeat.