The State of Play
The Punjab Kings will hope their record-breaking performance last time out will inspire a run of wins as they seek a place in the IPL 2024 play-offs.
The Kings successfully chased down their target of 262 for the loss of just two wickets with eight balls remaining against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. It was a remarkable display of hitting which also saw a welcome return to form for England’s Jonny Bairstow.
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The Yorkshireman smashed an unbeaten 108 off just 48 balls and was ably supported by Prabhsimran Singh (54 off 20) and Shashank Singh (68 off 28) as the Kings improved their record to three wins from nine games.
Captain Sam Curran said: “It’s very pleasing. Most importantly the win, cricket has turned to baseball hasn’t it? We’re delighted with the two points. We’ve had a tough few weeks as a team. Forget about the scores, we deserved this victory.
“Really pleased for Jonny, he’s been on tour for a long time and was eager to score. Shashank, wow, he was promoted to number four and he’s been our find of the season. We’ve to enjoy the small wins, although this was a big win coming to Kolkata.”
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Given their situation, Punjab will have to do it all over again when they go to Chennai to take on the Super Kings tomorrow.
And that won’t be an easy task. CSK obliterated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 78 runs last time out to improve their record to five wins from nine games.
Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad continued to lead from the front with 98 to follow on from 108 not out in defeat to the Lucknow Super Giants.
The real star of the show, however, was medium pacer Tushar Deshpande.
The free-scoring Sunrisers would have fancied their chances of chasing down 213 but Teshpande had other ideas, claiming the wickets of dangerous openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma on his way to claiming four for 27.
“We had a specific plan that even if they hit us from a good ball we will try and focus on bowling that good ball again,” Deshpande said. “We won’t change according to them. As bowlers in this format, I need to dictate the terms to the batters. I tried to do that and it paid dividends.”
CSK are third in the table with 10 points amid a log-jam towards the top of the table. A win here would go a long way to cementing a place in the post-season.
5⃣0⃣ 👉🏼1⃣0⃣0⃣ 👉🏼1⃣5⃣0⃣
The numbers game after the game! 🥳🦁#CSKvSRH #WhistlePodu #Yellove— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 29, 2024
Expected line-ups
Chennai Super Kings: Rahane, Gaikwad (c), Mitchell, Dube, Dhoni (wk), Ali, Jadeja, Chahar, Deshpande, Rahman, Pathirana
Punjab Kings: Prab Singh, Bairstow, Rossouw, S Singh, Curran (c), J Sharma (wk), A Sharma, Brar, Patel, Rabada, Chahar
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Wednesday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
Bair𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙒 in Kolkata! 🏟️🔥#SherSquad, none other than Jonny Bairstow is our #SherOfTheWeek! 🫶#SaddaPunjab #PunjabKings #JazbaHaiPunjabi #TATAIPL2024 pic.twitter.com/l1kECahXDT
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) April 30, 2024
Prediction
PK were excellent last time out but those kind of performances have been a rarity this season. To go to Kolkata and play like that shows they are capable but to go back to back and play like that again in Chennai is asking an awful lot.
Their bowling has been a weakness throughout IPL 2024 while their batters have been inconsistent. CSK look a far more balanced side.
With home advantage also with them, we are going for the Super Kings to get the win.
