After a loss and a washout, Punjab Kings will be marching into Chepauk on Wednesday night, hoping to fix their slightly derailed IPL 2025 campaign. And guess who they’re up against? Bottom-placed CSK, who’ve been handing out points like Diwali sweets this season.
Normally, a Chepauk clash would make Punjab fans a little nervous, but this year? The MA Chidambaram fortress has crumbled—CSK have lost 4 out of their 5 home games. Not exactly Whistle Podu vibes, right?
And their batting? Calling it “disappointing” would be like calling Mirzapur a wholesome family show. Their top scorer is Shivam Dube—and he doesn’t even feature in the top 20 run-getters this season. Something’s clearly off.
Noor Ahmed and Khaleel Ahmed have done their bit with the ball, but with the batters not showing up, even their efforts have gone to waste. To make things worse, MS Dhoni’s legendary captaincy seems to be running in low battery mode this year.
On the other hand, PBKS are in beast mode, riding high on the explosive form of openers Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya, who’ve been giving bowlers sleepless nights.
Punjab not only has the momentum but also the numbers. They’ve beaten CSK in 6 of their last 7 encounters. Case closed.
And as for the Men in Yellow? Their playoff door has been mathematically shut. But will that push them to play fearless cricket? Punjab Kings will certainly hope not.
FULL SQUADS:
Chennai Super Kings:
Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre, Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, Anshul Kamboj, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Rachin Ravindra, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Andre Siddarth C, Vansh Bedi
Punjab Kings:
Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, Harnoor Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Pyla Avinash, Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett
