IPL 2019, KXIP vs CSK, Match 55: Chennai look to maintain pole position, Punjab to play for pride

Not being in the reckoning for playoffs will be a disappointment for the home crowd in Sunday's match but they will hope that KXIP finish on a high

Defending champions and current table-toppers Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will aim to maintain their pole position with a victory over a struggling Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in their last IPL group league encounter on Sunday. With 18 points from 13 games, a win will give them 20 points, which is unlikely to be achieved by any other team. In their previous match against Delhi Capitals, skipper Dhoni and Suresh Raina guided the team to a challenging 179/4 and then restricted the opponent to just 99. Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja shared seven scalps between them as they wrecked havoc. In contrast, Kings XI Punjab, who are already out of the play-offs race, would be playing only for pride. With 10 points from 13 games, they are at seventh spot, a rung above bottom-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore. Not being in the reckoning for playoffs will be a disappointment for the home crowd in Sunday's match but they will hope that KXIP finish on a high. In the previous game against KKR, despite posting a challenging 183/6, visitors' openers Shubman Gill (65 not out) and Chris Lynn (46) took the match away from the KXIP. Their in-form openers Chris Gayle and K L Rahul, who have been among runs, would be keen to come good against CSK. The likes of Sam Curran, Mayank Agarwal and Nicholas Pooran will have to shoulder more responsibility in the middle-order. SQUADS: Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain & WK), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, K M Asif, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan (wk), Scott Kuggeleijn. Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), K L Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Karun Nair, Moises Henriques, Varun Chakravarthi, Harpreet Brar, Simran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi.