Our boys, Punjab Kings, will clash with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, on Sunday, April 30 at 3:30 PM.

In this season of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, both teams come into this match at the back of a loss. CSK is currently seated at the fourth position in the points table. If our boys clinch the Kings’ derby, we may move into the top half of the table with 10 points.

Our boys have won the last three clashes of the Kings derby. However, the Super Kings are not known to give an easy fight at their home den. In our past five matches played at Chepauk, our win-to-loss ratio is 2:3.

Let’s look at what will go into the making of this spectacular weekend clash.

Shikhar Dhawan’s Hot Seat:

After missing out on a few games, our captain, Shikhar Dhawan is back to roar.

In five matches, Dhawan has scored 234 runs at a strike rate of 145. Dhawan has contributed 17% of the total runs scored by our team. For a brief period, he also graced the Orange Cap.

Although he had a quiet night against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in our latest clash, we hope to see our skipper lead us from the front.

Star-studded Middle Order:

Our middle order is our backbone. They are consistently striking in hot form. In the likes of Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma, Atharva Taide, and more, our middle order keeps pushing us closer to the line.

Against LSG, Taide’s 36-ball 66 gave us hope to chase down a mammoth total. In the historic stump-breaking clash with the Mumbai Indians (MI), Curran’s 29-ball 55 put us in the driving seat.

In the matches to come, we hope our middle order keeps producing runs and steals the limelight in a winning cause.

Rahul Chahar’s Web:

Our Sher, Rahul Chahar, has a phenomenal record against the Super Kings’ batters.

Interestingly, he has scalped the CSK-skipper, MS Dhoni twice on five occasions. He has also taken the wickets of their in-form batters, namely Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu, at least once. In total, Chahar has taken nine wickets in 10 meetings, the most by any PBKS bowler so far in TATA IPL. Additionally, this comes at a meagre economy of 6.13.

On a spin-friendly pitch of Chepauk, Chahar may rise as a threat to the CSK batting line-up.

Pace Attack:

Our pace sensation, Arshdeep Singh, is currently the joint-highest wicket-taker in TATA IPL with 14 wickets. Adding Nathan Ellis’ seven wickets, Curran’s six and Kagiso Rabada’s five, our top four pacers have taken 32 wickets. It is the third-most by pace bowlers so far this season.

Arshdeep and Ellis have taken a four-wicket haul each this season.

Our speedsters have consistently given us breakthroughs when needed. We can look forward to another surprise attack by our bowlers.

All in all, a crackerjack is on the cards on a Sunday afternoon. Sher Squad, stay tuned for the much-awaited clash of the season!