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Suresh Raina's merry band of middle aged men take on the struggling Kings XI Punjab in their second home game of the season and the young captain would be hopeful of repeating his excellent debut as skipper with another win. While the Super Kings have shrugged off their initial lethargy and also managed to bounce back after losing their first-choice captain MS Dhoni, the Kings XI have struggled to get going as a unit failing in all three of their games. While the tournament is still in its early stages, time is fast running out for Kumar Sangakkara's men and they would need to stop relying on individual performances and collectively fire in order to get back to winning ways.

Chennai Super Kings: 
Matthew Hayden's ‘mongoose' bat was the highlight of the evening in the game against the Delhi Daredevils and the onus would continue to be on the burly Aussie to shoulder the burden of the batting and assist the young Raina in Dhoni's absence. While Raina and Hayden are in good form with the bat, they would definitely look for better support from Badrinath and Justin Kemp. Parthiv Patel too finds his way back into the side with Dhoni out, and it would be a crucial time for him and Murali Vijay to deliver.

The bowling looks well settled with Muralitharan leading it and though both he and fellow spinner R Ashwin haven't picked up too many wickets, they have been extremely thrifty. Lakshmipathy Balaji also looks in good form though Raina might re-consider Manpreet Gony to replace the expensive Joginder Sharma.

The win against a formidable Delhi side would have given a Dhoni-less Chennai a huge boost and though they would still struggle in the Indian skipper's absence, the South Indian outfit looks compact enough to go a long distance.

Also read: CSK vs DD & CSK vs KKR

Kings XI Punjab:
In the three games that Punjab has played till now; both their batting and the bowling have come good - ironically never together. While Sreesanth & Co. have faded after showing hopes of troubling Delhi in their opening encounter, the top and middle-order has lacked consistency with just one good score (the 203 against Bangalore) to show for.

With two half-centuries and a 38 under his belt, Ravi Bopara would consider himself extremely unlucky to be on the losing side in all three games and only if the senior pros would have given a bit more support the story would have been different. A highest score of 26* between skipper Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh sums up the situation for Punjab and unless the big guns fire, the mood in the dug-out will not improve.

Adrian Barath's inclusion in the last game is a positive move and though the West Indian failed to get going, he can add the much needed spark in the batting line-up. Yuvraj's abilities as a game-breaker need no introduction and as Irfan Pathan's knock against the Chargers showed, the Kings XI can very well be that one special knock away from the turnaround.

Also read: KXIP vs DC & KXIP vs RCB

Past Meetings:
In Chennai, Punjab face a side they have never beaten in the IPL. All four Chennai wins have been fairly comprehensive and have come while batting first. They beat Punjab by 33 & 18 runs respectively in the away and home clashes in 2008 before piling on the agony in South Africa, with 12 & 24 run-margin victories.

Likely XI's:
Chennai Super Kings: Patel, Hayden, Badrinath, Raina (c), Morkel, Kemp, Vijay, Ashwin, Balaji, Muralitharan, Sharma.
Kings XI Punjab: Bopara, Bisla, Sangakkara, Yuvraj, Jayawardene, Barath, Pathan, Chawla, Bipul Sharma, Sreesanth, Srivastava.

Prediction: With or without the ‘mongoose', with Hayden at the top the Chennai Super Kings look powerful enough to rout the Kings XI Punjab at home.

Also Read:

Match Preview - Delhi Daredevils  vs. Deccan Chargers

File Photograph Copyright: Jagadeesh SJ

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