Rejuvenated Chennai takes on Punjab to end their Indian T20 League 2020 campaign with a positive note while Punjab would take this game as the lifeline for the playoffs.
Chennai are entering into this fixture with a nail-biting victory over Kolkata and Punjab suffered a 6-wickets defeat against Rajasthan in their previous outing.
Match Timings: Nov 01, 3:30 PM
Team Preview
With Rajasthan’s victory over Punjab, the tournament is wide open and it opened the way for other teams. Punjab will play their final league game on Sunday to take vital two points. It’s a knockout game for Punjab and the defeat will eliminate them from the playoffs. The victory would be enough to put pressure on Kolkata and Rajasthan. If they win, the NRR will play a major role and with slightly better run-rate, they can upstage Kolkata or Rajasthan. They can be out if Hyderabad ends up with 14 points as they are behind to Orange Army in NRR. Gayle’s inclusion did wonder for them but the poor strike rate made their task difficult against Rajasthan. They fall 15-20 runs short and it made the difference. To defeat Chennai, Punjab needs to play with a counter approach. They cannot beat Hyderabad on NRR but they can hope for the turnaround with 14 points which would be a far better picture rather than the elimination. Mayank Agarwal’s availability is in doubt.
Meanwhile, Chennai got their spark leading from the front. Gaikwad scored back-to-back half-centuries to guide Chennai home. In the previous game, Jadeja pulled off a comeback against Kolkata after Gaikwad’s steadiness. Chennai has already eliminated from the playoffs and they have nothing to lose. Ending the season with three wins in a row, Chennai would have a better ending to their campaign. Jagadeesan might be promoted up in the order to get some batting. Dhoni can look back at their bench strength to try one more player in the XI.
Pitch Report
Abu Dhabi’s track is a batting-friendly wicket and it offers a lot of runs. The dew is now playing an important role. Chasing the total would be an ideal call. It’s a surface where 190 isn’t safe. It’s behaving like Sharjah and batsmen can take advantage in both innings, being the day game.
Possible XI
Chennai
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson/Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), N Jagadeesan, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner/Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi
Punjab
KL Rahul (c & wk), Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda/Mayank Agarwal, Chris Jordan, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Key Players
Chennai
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Last two outings – 72 (53), 65 (51)
Ravindra Jadeja
This season – M: 13, Runs: 232, Avg: 46.40
Punjab
KL Rahul
This season –M: 13, Runs: 641, Avg: 58.32
Chris Gayle
This season – M: 6, Runs: 276, Avg: 46
