Chennai: Their playoffs hopes all but over, Chennai Super Kings would look to turn around a floundering campaign when they square off against a better-placed but erratic Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.
It has been a disappointing season for five-time champions CSK, languishing at the bottom of the table with just two wins out of nine games.
PBKS, on the other hand, are placed fifth in the standings with five wins from nine matches and would look to rise up with a victory against a demoralised CSK side, which failed to get its combinations right so far in the season.
What has been most disheartening for CSK is their inability to master the home conditions at the Chepauk, considered a fortress
for a long time.
CSK would be desperate to register their third win of the tournament to keep slim hopes of making it to
the playoffs alive.
Even a talisman like Mahendra Singh Dhoni has failed to fire up the side after taking over the leadership from Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been ruled out due to an elbow injury.
And Dhoni admitted that CSK are struggling to get their line-ups right.
“If you see the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the conditions, we are struggling with both bat and ball,” Dhoni had said. CSK’s young recruit Ayush Mhatre, who grabbed eyeballs on his IPL debut, will look to put on a strong display when he takes on Arshdeep Singh
in the powerplay.