Chennai: It will be a battle of leadership styles of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin when Chennai Super Kings clash with Kings XI Punjab an IPL match here on Saturday.
Dhoni’s ability to stay calm and keep his cool even in the trickiest of situations versus Ashwin’s aggressive approach and out-of-the-box decisions would certainly make for an interesting contest. The two teams have three wins each and both will try to outdo each other to take the upper hand. Defending champions CSK suffered their first defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians in their last match after three straight wins, and they would hoping to get back to winning ways as they return to their ‘den’. The two previous matches at MA Chidambaram stadium have produced contrasting performances. While Royal Challengers Bangalore were shot out for 70, Rajasthan Royals made CSK sweat before going down by eight runs on a better surface for the batters. The spin-heavy CSK will now be up against KXIP, which also have quality spinners in their line-up with Ashwin himself at the forefront apart from Mujeeb Ur Rahman, leggie M Ashwin and mystery bowler C V Varun.
Jonny Bairstow will be keen to continue his run riot and keep the Sunrisers Hyderabad juggernaut rolling against a Mumbai Indians side that is getting into the groove after an up-and-down start, in their IPL match here on Saturday.
Currently holding the top spot in the points table with three back-to-back victories, the confident Sunrisers would not like to spare an inch against Mumbai, lying at sixth place, with two wins and as many losses from four outings. However, Mumbai will take heart from the fact that they defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings, their first loss in four games, in the last match.
In contrast, the Sunrisers, after losing their opening game against Kolkata Knight Riders, went on the win against Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals.
The Sunrisers, in fact, were without the services of their captain Kane Williamson during Thursday’s match against Delhi because of an injury, but they did not let that have an impact. Bhuvneshwar Kumar led from the front as the seamer, along with Mohammad Nabi and Siddarth Kaul, chipped in with two wickets each to restrict Delhi to 129 for eight. (PTI)
