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Chennai: Struggling for form but showing some spark at the same time, Kings XI Punjab will have to brace up for another massive challenge against Chennai Super Kings in their IPL match on Thursday.
Punjab ended just four runs shy of what could have been a morale-lifting win over the Mumbai Indians in their most recent match.
They showed the stomach for a fight but just did not get that one crucial knock from any of their batsmen which could have take them to a win.
Chennai, on the other hand, don't seem to be doing anything wrong in what has been a smooth campaign so far. Leaders by quite a distance on the points table after eight wins from 10 matches, they are the team to beat this IPL.
Chennai have won their last six matches, with opener Michael Hussey in sublime form.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni too has been in ominous form with the bat, which will be a cause of concern for Punjab, while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has always proved to be a handy finisher.
On the bowling front there is some concern as South African all-rounder Albie Morkel has picked up just one wicket in his four games.
But young Indian medium pacer Mohit Sharma has done reasonably well, scalping nine wickets in seven matches at an average of 14.6.
In contrast, Punjab are coming into the game after being outsmarted by Mumbai. An unlikely victory over CSK would increase their points tally to 10.
Mandeep Singh, who has the ability to clear the ropes with nonchalance and has scored 228 runs in nine matches, is now partnering another Australian, Shaun Marsh, in the opening slots.
With another experienced Aussie campaigner, David Hussey (199 runs in nine matches), also not among the runs, the batting has struggled.
Teams from
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (Capt & wk), Akila Dananjaya, Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, Ankit Rajpoot, Baba Aparajith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ben Laughlin, Chris Morris, Dirk Nannes, Dwayne Bravo, Francois du Plessis, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jason Holder, Michael Hussey, Mohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Nuwan Kulasekara, R Karthikeyan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ronit More, Shadab Jakati, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha (wk).
Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (Capt & wk), Mandeep Singh, Luke Pomersbach, David Miller, Manan Vohra, David Hussey, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Bhargav Bhatt, Parvinder Awana, Azhar Mahmood, Bipul Sharma, Siddharth Chitnis, Aniket Choudhary, Manpreet Gony, Gurkeerat Singh, Shaun Marsh, Dimitri Mascernhas, Nitin Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Rajagopal Sathish, Sunny Singh, Paul Valthaty.
Match facts
Thursday May 2, 2013 (day/night)
Start time 16:00 local (1030 GMT)
