It’s a tussle between two “kings”. One King from Chennai has qualified for the playoffs while the other King from Punjab has almost got eliminated from the playoff race. So anyway, it is a “dead rubber” at Dubai, with much more for CSK to fix their claim for the top-2 spot, while for Punjab, it is to regain their lost pride.
Though Punjab is not officially out of the race, but it is unrealistic for them to confirm their spot in top-4 given their poor net run-rate and some unrealistic calculations at the backend for them to qualify.
Players to watch out for: -
Ruturaj Gaikwad: This opening batsman has been in red-hot form, especially in 2nd leg of IPL 2021. He even scored a century (101*) against Rajasthan Royals just 4 days back. He has scored 521 runs in 13 matches at a strike-rate of 139 and is currently the 2nd highest run-scorer in IPL 2021.
Josh Hazlewood: - While the spearhead has played only 6 matches so far taking 7 wickets, but he bowled well in the last match against Delhi Capitals at Dubai, returning with figures of 1/27 off 4 overs.
KL Rahul: - The biggest weakness of the Punjab team is the overdependence on the opening pair of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. Captain KL Rahul's role is more important in this opening pair as well. He scoring big runs will be a key for Punjab to win.
Arshdeep Singh: - In the last match he played at Dubai against KKR, he returned with figures of 3/32 in 4 overs. He bowled well in Powerplay as well as in death overs. In this match also Punjab will expect some similar bowling from him.
Venue and Time: - Dubai Cricket Stadium, Dubai at 15:30 IST on 7 October 2021.
Live Streaming: - Star Sports and Disney Hotstar VIP and Premium Account will be streaming Match 53 of Vivo IPL between CSK and PBKS.
Expected Playing XI: -
Chennai Super Kings: - Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood.
Punjab Kings: - KL Rahul (c) (wk), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfraz Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi.
Pitch Report: -
The pitch at Dubai stadium will become slower as the match progresses and expect the team winning the toss to field first. The wicket will be double-paced.
Dream XI Fantasy team: -
