Abu Dhabi: In the 53rd match of IPL 2020, Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to field against Kings XI Punjab here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday. While CSK are already out of the playoff race, it is a do-or-die clash for the fifth place holder KXIP.
In their final match in IPL 2020, CSK made three changes as they have brought in Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Sharduk Thakur in place of Shane Watson, Mitchell Santner and Karn Sharma.
CSK and KXIP have faced each other 22 times in the IPL so far, with CSK holding a 13-9 head-to-head win/loss record over KXIP.
Earlier this season, they met each other in Dubai on October 4, Sunday. CSK beat KXIP by 10 wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on the back of unbeaten 80-plus scores from openers Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson. Kings XI skipper K. L. Rahul scored a half-century against the Super Kings as well.
KL Rahul - A key match, it's pretty simple for us, go out, enjoy and win the game. They are both fit and they are both playing. Maxi misses out, Neesham comes in, Arshdeep misses out for Mayank. My role is to make sure everyone bats around me - we have the firepower in Chris and Pooran, it's important for us to get a good start.
MS Dhoni - We will bowlm first. Definitely not (when asked if itr was his last game ever for CSK). They are under more pressure to win, we just want to turn up and keep fighting. I felt the boys did well to stay relevant, we want to put 100% into our game. We have a few changes. Faf, Tahir and Shardul in; they replace Watson, Santner and Karn
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), N Jagadeesan, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, James Neesham, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami
