Depending champions Chennai Super Kings will play the King XI Punjab in the ninth game of the fourth season of the Indian Premier League. The game will be played on Wednesday and will be hosted by the PCA in Mohali.
Punjab v Chennai odds:
Punjab were abysmal in their first game. In fact, it was evident from the kind of side that they had picked for the tournament that the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh would remain the keys throughout the journey of this IPL. Then, to have both of them at the top of the innings is a tactical error and will need to be corrected if the Kings XI Punjab (15/8 at
BetFred) do not want a repeat of their 112 all out against Pune.
Chennai will look up to their skipper MS Dhoni for motivation to get them out of the sticky situations. But with some really powerful batting and a decent bowling attack, Chennai will start off as favourites to win this one, 4/9 at
bet365.
Ground and Pitch:
The PCA track in Mohali assists the quicker bowlers usually, but this is a day game and there is a significant chance of the pitch helping the slower bowlers and the batsmen will enjoy batting here.
Player News:
Punjab will need to make a couple of changes at the top of the innings. While Gilchrist (7/2 at
BetFred) knows no other position to bat at, there is a decent chance that his opening partner from the previous game, Marsh (10/3 at
Bodog), will be pushed down to add stability. It was a surprise to see Paul Valthaty (11/2 at
BetFred) walk out to bat at the number three position, who at 27, is yet to play a first-class game.
However, a look at the squad and it becomes clear that the Kings XI Punjab do not have many options apart from sending the previous game’s half-centurion Ryan McLaren (12/1 at
Stan James) up the order. David Hussey (4/1 at
BetFred) will miss this game as well as he is still in Australia and that puts the onus on to the top-order to score the runs.
Chennai have no such worries. Murali Vijay (3/1 at
BetFred) had a new opening partner in S Anirudha (7/2 at
Stan James) and despite the inexperience, he ran away with the man of the match award for his well-placed half-century. Suresh Raina (7/2 at
Bodog) had a start in their game against the Knight Riders but failed to kick on while MS Dhoni (5/1 at
BetFred) did struggle to connect on a difficult pitch. Both will look to get going in the game.
Prediction:
It would be silly to bet (4/9 at
bet365) against Chennai in this game. Not till the Kings XI Punjab actually win a game in the tournament will I want to think of putting my money on them.
