Super Kings' inner battles a bigger worry than opponents KXIP

An wounded Chennai Super Kings will look to rise above the injuries and off the field distractions to continue their winning streak when they lock horns with Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Mohali.

An wounded Chennai Super Kings will look to rise above the injuries and off the field distractions to continue their winning streak when they lock horns with Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Mohali.

It will be the third game for both teams.

After opening their campaign with a stunning win over Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener, Chennai Super Kings pulled off yet another thrilling chase to beat Kolkata Knight Riders.

The likes of Dwayne Bravo and Sam Billings are in red-hot form for the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team.

The main problem for CSK though, has been injuries to its key players. The list is never ending, starting from Mitchell Santner and Kedar Jadhav and going on to their vice-captain Suresh Raina. South African captain Faf du Plessis is also yet to regain match fitness.

Despite all this, Chennai have been putting on quite a show with the bat. Bravo and Billings have performed out of their skins. Watson and Rayudu at the top have also been doing a quite a commendable job.

The spin trio of Harbhajan Singh, Jadeja and Imran Tahir can be a potent force as they are complemented by Deepak Chahar, Watson and Shardul Thakur.

On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab are coming into the match after yesterday's loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The KXIP started the season on a resounding note, beating Delhi Daredevils by six wickets.

Local player KL Rahul, who fashioned the victory with the fastest-ever fifty in IPL, justified why the franchise spent Rs 11 crore for him.

Rahul smashed a 30-ball 47 against RCB and had Punjab not lost wickets in quick succession, they could have notched up a bigger total than the 155 they managed while batting first.

A cause of concern for KXIP is the form of their top batsman Yuvraj Singh, who has made 12 and 4 in the two games while in the bowling department, Mohit Sharma looked off colour against RCB.

Ashwin has been in good form with his bowling and has contributed with the bat as well.

Playing his maiden innings as a captain, Ashwin has also been marshalling his men nicely.

In the batting department, there are high expectations from Aaron Finch, who was unavailable for the opening match, but failed with the bat against RCB.

Punjab's bowlers are doing a fine job with 17-year-old spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman surprising the batsmen with his unconventional deliveries. He was even rewarded with the prize wicket of RCB skipper Virat Kohli.

Apart from Ashwin, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb, Axar Patel and Andrew Tye add depth to Punjab's bowling attack.

 Teams (from):

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Kanishk Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan

Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), AJ Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Chris Gayle.