The five-time champions have only one win in five home games this season, in stark contrast to Chepauk’s reputation as a long-standing CSK stronghold.
Their Chepauk journey began with victory, defeating the Mumbai Indians. However, the momentum quickly disappeared. CSK lost to Royal Challenger Bengaluru, their first defeat to beat RCB at Chepauk since 2008. Chasing 197 targets, CSK is staggering, limited to 146/8.
Next, the Delhi capital added to CSK’s family plight. KL Rahul’s 77-year-old and nervous bowling from Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav ensured another failed chase as CSK could only manage 158/5 when chasing 184.
The downturn continued to lose family losses for the third time in a row, this time with the Kolkata rider. Sunil Narine (3/13) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/22) removed the CSK’s batting order. Chennai ended their innings 103/9, and KKR chased it comfortably with eight wickets and nearly 10 spares. Hyderabad then handed over CSK to their fourth home defeat, marking a rare low for the franchise. This reflects the poor home season in 2008 and 2012 – both ending with CSK’s runner-up. In a modest game, CSK was beaten 154 despite knocks from Ayush Mhatre (30) and Dewald Brevis (42). Harshal Patel’s 4/28 played a role in stopping the progress of CSK, with SRH making 1.2 remaining 1.2 thanks to Ishan Kishan (44) and Kamindu Mendis (32*). A win against PBK is crucial to avoid unnecessary labels of the worst home season ever.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Kings entered the game with five wins and are currently ranked fifth in the standings. Led by Shryas Iyer, PBK has shown glitter and inconsistency this season, but will feel a chance of getting higher and higher CSK units that can climb higher.
Will Dhoni’s men protect their fortress or will they strike again against their already staggering campaign?
CSK Squad: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shivam Dube, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Rachin Ravindra, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran, Noor Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Vijay Shankar, Shaik Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Jamie Overton, Anshul Kamboj, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Andre Siddharth.
PBKS Squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Glenn Maxwell, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Xavier Bartlett, Kuldeep Sen, Yash Thakur, Aaron Hardie, Harnoor Singh, Pyla Avinash, Praveen Dubey, Shashank Singh.
(with ANI input)
