The 56th and final match of the preliminary rounds of IPL 11 on Sunday evening will see the Chennai Super Kings host the Kings XI Punjab in what on the surface looks like a dead rubber.
The Super Kings have already sewn up a playoff spot and only a major thrashing could see them slip into third spot, depending on the result between the Knight Riders and Sunrisers on Saturday evening.
Similarly Kings XI could already be out of the playoff reckoning if the Mumbai Indians defeat the Delhi Daredevils in Sunday’s afternoon game
But if Delhi can upset Mumbai a slight ray of hope remains for Punjab who would then need a crushing win over Chennai to sneak past Rajasthan into the final four on net run-rate.
All smiles everyone to get back to the #DenAwayFromDen! #whistlepodu 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/6IfGsgIFlE
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) May 19, 2018
SUPER KINGS NEED SOME FORM BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS
Chennai were disappointing the previous outing, a shock loss by 34 runs to wooden-spoonists Delhi Daredevils. The last thing MS Dhoni will want is for his side to go into the playoffs with back-to-back losses under their belt.
The Super Kings were anything but super against Delhi performing poorly with the bat and inconsistently with the ball.
Only Ambati Rayudu, with a 29-ball fifty, and a late flourish from Ravindra Jadeja (27 off 18) did as expected with the bat and Lungi Ndidi was a lone star with the ball, taking 2 for 14 off three overs.
Of most concern to the captain would have been the figures of usually reliable ‘death’ bowler Dwayne Bravo who went for 0 for 52 off his four expensive overs.
Dhoni will want to see better performances in both facets heading into the deciding matches.
Take a look at some of our happy moments from the day, as the Kings prepare for tomorrow's game.
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) May 19, 2018
Tell us about yours using #50DaysOfKXIP #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi #KXIP pic.twitter.com/JYuRVEzURS
PUNJAB RUE MISSED CHANCES
The Kings XI will be desperately disappointed to lose to the Mumbai Indians in their last match.
Punjab could have finished Mumbai’s IPL campaign as well as done a massive favour for their own playoff hopes, and that is exactly what they should have done after Andrew Tye’s superb 4 for 16 had the Indians on the ropes in their innings.
But Punjab took their foot off Mumbai’s throat and as they have done so many times before the Indians pulled off yet another great escape, this time courtesy of a return to form by Kieron Pollard with a timely 50 off just 23 balls.
Kings XI playoff chances are very slim indeed and if they do miss out on the final four they will look back at a season of missed chances, the Mumbai loss chief amongst them.
Laughs, fun, pranks and @henrygayle for lunch 🥗😋
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) May 19, 2018
Take a look at what went behind shooting the @kingfisherworld TVC ⬇️#LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi #KXIP #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/Ll7oiGseF1
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (C, WK), Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi.
Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul (WK), Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Ankit Rajpoot.
