On Wednesday, Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bowl first against the Lucknow Super Giants at Ekana Sports City stadium in Lucknow.
LSG has played this fixture without their skipper and star batsman, KL Rahul, as he suffered a hamstring injury in the last match against RCB.
CSK will try to exploit this gap in their batting order. If CSK wins today’s match, they might end up at the top of the points table, depending on their margin of victory. LSG can also claim the top spot with a victory.
CSK skipper MS Dhoni said at the toss, “We’ll bowl first. The fact that the wicket was under cover and looked a bit tacky means we’ll look to bowl first. You have to see all the conditions and the venue.
LSG stand-in skipper Krunal Pandya said at the toss, “We wanted to bat first, so it is even Stevens.” The batters can go out and express themselves. KL is a big loss; he’s a quality player, but it creates an opportunity.
So far, LSG has scored 42 runs with the loss of four wickets in nine overs. Their openers went to the pavillion very early.
CSK (Playing XI):
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana
LSG (Playing XI):
Kyle Mayers, Manan Vohra, Karan Sharma, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (w), Krunal Pandya (c), Krishnappa Gowtham, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan