Preview
2019’s finalists meet in the 2020 IPL season for the second time with conditions completely different to when they last met at Abu Dhabi at the start of the season. While a whopping number of things have changed, the fortunes of the two sides have been vastly different.
While CSK won the opening game in Abu Dhabi, this time at Sharjah against a group of power hitters sitting comfortably in the top half of the table, the task will be quite tedious.
Chennai are likely without some big stars too as MS Dhoni hinted some changes are in the offing after a disappointing few games.
Team news and predicted XI
CSK are expected to replace Shane Watson, Piyush Chawla and Kedar Jadhav. Imran Tahir, last year’s purple cap holder, will also likely start while Josh Hazlewood should edge out Lungi Ngidi despite the South African presenting a solid case in Sharjah.
MI, on the other hand, might be without regular skipper Rohit Sharma if rumours are to go by. He could be replaced by a no.4 batsman or Chris Lynn since it is Sharjah. Trent Boult is also expected to start to take the new ball while Coulter-Nile could sit out for Lynn if Rohit doesn’t play. The Pandya brothers, in-form Kieron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav should be the middle-order.
CSK: Ambati Rayudu, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Narayanan Jagadeesan, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Josh Hazlewood
MI: Rohit Sharma/Chris Lynn, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Nathan Coulter-Nile/Digvijay Deshmukh, Trent Boult
Fantasy tips
- Use MI spinners who turn the ball away from Chennai’s right handers.
- Mumbai’ss left-handers are also good picks for this fixture as all of CSK’s spinners turn the ball into them. Kishan and de Kock, who is in good form are great picks
- Stay away from Shane Watson if he plays. Faf is a good pick, though.
- Pollard the skipper is a dangerous batsman and could bat up the order too today. He is a terrific player to have for this game.
Fantasy XI
Quinton de Kock
Faf du Plessis
Suryakumar Yadav
Kieron Pollard
Sam Curran
Hardik Pandya
Krunal Pandya
Ravindra Jadeja
Deepak Chahar
Josh Hazlewood
Jasprit Bumrah
