 Kings
XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings face each other in the ninth match of
the IPL 2011 at Mohali. Playing at their home ground, Punjab will be looking for
their first points of the tournament. Punjab lost their first game to newbie Sahara
Pune Warriors by seven wickets.
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings played like champions to win the match
against Kolkata Knight Riders by two runs, after it looked like Kolkata will
take the match comprehensively. The coming of age of Srikkanth Anirudha
was one of the positives that Chennai would take from their first game. Anirudha's
64 runs earned him the man of the match and more importantly helped Chennai
post a decent total on the board. Murali Vijay was unlucky to miss out
in the first match but he is a kind of batsman who can bounce back anytime.
Click for Live Score Card of Mohali Punjab Kings Vs Chennai Super Kings
The presence of big-hitting Suresh Raina, skipper MS Dhoni, Albie Morkel
and Scott Styris makes the Chennai middle order a tough nut to crack. All of
these four batsmen can win matches for their side single-handedly and this has
been proved in the previous editions as well. Chennai have been the only team
to retain maximum of their previous team members and this seems to have worked
well for them. With last man Suraj Randiv too able to swing his bat, Chennai
seem to have the least of the worries when it comes to batting.
Chennai's bowling is as good as their batting, with various options available for MS Dhoni to try with. From Tim Southee to Suresh Raina, each of their bowlers are capable of delivering when the situation demands. New recruit Tim Southee's perfect yorkers, R Ashwin and Shadab Jakati's controlled spin is an asset for the Chennai franchise but it looks to be seen if they can repeat it every match.
Kings XI Punjab, under Adam Gilchrist, are a completely new outfit when it
comes to the team composition. However, it looks like whichever team Gilchrist
plays, the team looks at him to lead them match after match. Gilchrist fails,
team fails seems to be the trend. Although it is too early to speak about this
with regards to Punjab, it is clear that Gilchrist, along with Shaun Marsh
and Dinesh Karthik would be crucial in deciding Punjab's fortunes in this tournament.
Ryan McLaren showed his suitability for the finisher's role with an unbeaten
51 runs in the first match.
Punjab's bowling too has no big names that can win matches on their own and
their limited options would mean that every time the batsmen have to put up
huge scores. Praveen Kumar, Nathan Rimmington and McLaren will have to
take up on the responsibility in the absence Ryan Harris.
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