Chennai, April 10 The experienced opening pair of Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad will face immense pressure to perform as Chennai Super Kings continue their search for their first win of the season against Delhi Capitals in the IPL here on Saturday.
Having lost three matches at three different venues, CSK have had a disappointing start to the season. Significant improvement is needed in both batting and bowling if they are to compete with rival teams.
The absence of Dewald Brevis has also impacted the team's balance. The explosive South African batter is expected to return from injury against Delhi Capitals. However, there is no clarity on the return of MS Dhoni, who has yet to play this season due to a calf strain.
The opening combination of Samson and Gaikwad needs to perform well before things become difficult for CSK.
Kartik Sharma also needs to step up, while Prashant Veer has performed well in the lower order. The only batter who has shown consistency is Sarfaraz Khan, who has something to prove this season.
The CSK bowlers conceded 250 runs against RCB, a total that proved too high for the batters. Apart from Khaleel Ahmed, all the other bowlers conceded 12 runs or more per over.
This will be the second game of the season at Chepauk. PBKS comfortably chased 210 against the hosts on April 3.
CSK will face Delhi Capitals, who are still smarting from their one-run loss against Gujarat Titans in Delhi. The Axar Patel-led side knows the importance of momentum in a highly competitive tournament like the IPL and will be determined to worsen CSK's situation with an all-round performance.
David Miller's decision to refuse the single on the penultimate ball to tie the game against Titans will be a talking point for the rest of the season, but this won't be discussed in the dressing room.
However, this could affect the South African, who backed himself to finish the game for his team but fell agonizingly short.
Pacer Mukesh Kumar conceded 55 runs in his four overs on Wednesday, forcing him to review his plans in the powerplay.
In Mitchell Starc's absence, Lungi Ngidi has done well for the team, continuing his frugal ways since the T20 World Cup.
KL Rahul got welcome runs with the bat after a couple of failures, leaving only Nitish Rana in the top order to make an impact.
Squads:
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CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ayush Mhatre, Khaleel Ahmed, Nathan Ellis, Gurjapneet Singh, Noor Ahmad, Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer, Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zakary Foulkes, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Shreyas Gopal, Anshul Kamboj
Delhi Capitals: Abhishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Tripurana Vijay, David Miller, Ben Duckett, Auqib Nabi Dar, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Prithvi Shaw, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Madhav Tiwari, T Natarajan, Sahil Parakh.
Match starts: 7.30 PM IST.