Chennai Super Kings got its first win in the last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore and will look to build on that when it takes on Gujarat Titans at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Sunday.
Despite the victory, CSK is clearly the underdog against the Titans who beat Rajasthan Royals by a comprehensive 37-run margin, their best performance of the tournament.
Case for Hangargekar
The defending champion still doesn’t have all the bases covered, especially on the bowling front, with the pacers unable to provide breakthroughs. An option for the team could be to try out young pacer Rajvardhan Hangargekar instead of Mukesh Choudhary who has struggled so far. The India under-19 star bowls with decent pace and could add firepower to the CSK attack.
A huge positive for CSK, though, was the performance of spinner Maheesh Theekshana, who returned a four-wicket haul against RCB. The team will also hope opener Ruturaj Gaikwad finds form in front of his home crowd in Pune.
Titans, on the other hand, have everything going for them with Hardik Pandya leading from the front with both bat and ball. The team has one of the best bowling attacks in the competition.
Mohammed Shami’s guile, Lockie Ferguson’s pace and Rashid Khan’s wizardry will pose a formidable challenge to CSK’s batters.
The only area of concern is the form of top-order batters Matthew Wade and Vijay Shankar.
In Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz, it has a readymade opening batter who can don the gloves as well and it will be a gamble worth taking.
