CSK opts to field; Gayle comes in for Kings XI

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and kept the trend of fielding first alive against the hosts Kings XI Punjab at Mohali.

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and kept the trend of fielding first alive against the hosts Kings XI Punjab at Mohali.

The two champions, which is struggling with injuries to its key players was forced to make one change. Suresh Raina, was forced to miss his first match for CSK and he was replaced by Murali Vijay.

“Pitch looks good as of now, quite a few venues are getting dew so it is always good to chase. We have a forced change. Suresh Raina is not fit, he is not ready so Murali Vijay comes in place of him. I look good and I don't have any serious niggle. Yes, we are a team of over-aged people so we have,” said Dhoni.

Kings XI made two changes, Chris Gayle came in for Stoinis and Axar Patel, who has a niggle, made way for Barinder Sran.

“Too early to get any spice in the tournament. We don't know where we are heading towards in the tournament. We will treat it just as a normal game. We have got two changes. Unfortunately, Axar Patel has a small niggle and he misses out. Barinder Sran comes in place of him and Chris Gayle is in for Marcus Stoinis,” said Ashwin.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, MS Dhoni(w/c), Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman