🏏IPL 2022:Punjab Kings vs Chennai Super Kings:Match 38 🏏

IPL 2022:Punjab Kings vs Chennai Super Kings:Match 38

Three wins in seven outings and nesting in the unfavourable half of the points tally, Punjab Kings are hurtling towards an awkwardly familiar territory of having to treat every remaining game as a must-win in order to secure their first playoffs berth in eight editions.

Their opponents today, Chennai Super Kings are nearly there - the qualification hopes of the defending champions hanging by the barest of threads after just two wins in seven. In each other's misery, both seek a lifeline to keep their frail IPL 2022 campaign afloat!!

Their power-packed bating line-up, supposedly their strength this season, has been plagued with inconsistency with the only exception of Liam Livingstone who is among the season's top-15 run-getters.

As Punjab's desperation for points grows, Jonny Bairstow would be feeling the heat with just 41 runs in four innings so far and an in-form replacement in Bhanuka Rajapaksa waiting on the bench.

Shahrukh Khan, another one of Punjab's expensive (re)purchases, hasn't lived up to his billing quite yet with his strike-rate against spin coming under scrutiny.

Touted as PBKS' most apparent weak link, their bowling department has fared reasonably, led by veteran Kagiso Rabada and with uncapped Arshdeep Singh churning out economical spells even though he's not got enough wickets to show for it.

Rahul Chahar had led the relatively inexperienced spin department, sitting on the 10th spot in the season's highest wicket-takers with 10 scalps in seven outings.

Over at the CSK camp, there's barely been anything to write about except for Shivam Dube's consistent contributions (236 runs) and MS Dhoni's finishing prowess that was most recently on display in their last-ball win over fellow-strugglers Mumbai Indians.

The bowling, however, is beginning to find its groove and lend support to the ever-reliable Dwayne Bravo. CSK's upped their power play bowling in the last three games, not conceding more than 42 runs in an innings and taking a total of nine wickets in that phase.

The immediate task at hand would be to keep in check Punjab's all-in batting approach that has seen them score at 9.51 in power plays.

Rookie pacer Mukesh Choudhary had been backed despite an off-color start to the season, and came good with the new ball against MI to set up the win.

Mahesh Theekshana's, too, has been chipping in consistently but CSK's major worry remains the indifferent form of their new captain Ravindra Jadeja, who has failed to lead by example both with the bat and the ball.

c ssss kkkkkkkkkkkkk🥳🥳

PBKS vs CSK Tata IPL 2022 Match 38 Probable XIs:

Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal ©, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora.

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja ©, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Mukesh Choudhary, Maheesh Theekshana, Dwaine Pretorious.

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Shivam Dube has piled up 237 runs in 7 matches so far, he will be hoping to make it count on this occasion once again.

Robin Uthappa has scored 227 runs in this tournament so far, and will be among the top fantasy picks for this match once again.

Dwayne Bravo has hunted 12 scalps in 7 matches so far, he will be among the crucial picks from the bowling department for this match as well.

Rahul Chahar has picked 10 wickets in this season so far, and will be looking to net a few crucial scalps in this match as well.

Liam Livingstone scored 60 runs in the last head-to-head game and can turn out to be effective once again in this game.

Rutu bhai........... pls stay n play today ....plsss

if csk batting.... we want 200+ today... Rutu bhai... Robin bhai.... giving thr best

IPL 2022 Match 38 Pitch Report:

The deck at Wankhede Stadium has always been good for batting.

There is an even bounce on the track, and the shorter boundaries make the job even easier for the batters.

There will be a massive dew factor and both teams would want to bowl first after winning the toss.

With the super-fast outfield, high-scoring games are always on the cards at Wankhede Stadium.

Average 1st innings score:

The average first innings score on this wicket is 164 runs.

Record of chasing teams:

The team batting second has great records here. They have maintained a winning percentage of 60 on this ground.

The thirty-eighth match of the TATA IPL 2022 will see the clash between Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai Super Kings will be squaring off against Punjab Kings for the second time in the thirty-eighth match of this season of the Tata IPL.

Punjab Kings is currently placed at the eighth position on the points table of this season of the Tata IPL whereas Chennai Super Kings is currently placed at the second-last position on the points table.

The last time they played against each other in this season, Punjab Kings won the game by 54 runs.

PBKS vs CSK Tata IPL 2022 Match 38 Probable Winners:

Considering the team combination, Chennai Super Kings is expected to win this match.

Rookie pacer Mukesh Choudhary had been backed despite an off-color start to the season, and came good with the new ball against MI to set up the win.

Mahesh Theekshana's, too, has been chipping in consistently but CSK's major worry remains the indifferent form of their new captain Ravindra Jadeja, who has failed to lead by example both with the bat and the ball.

CSK's opening partnership has failed to cross 28 while the best a no. 3 batter has managed so far in the season is Mooen Ali's 35, and Punjab would want to keep it that way.

To that effect, they could give Arshsdeep a go at (a struggling) Ruturaj Gaikwad who has been dismissed twice by the pacer already in their nascent IPL careers.

Punjab's spinners collectively have the least impressive economy rate in IPL 2022 of 8.65 - a weakness CSK would know to exploit very well.

Could this tempt CSK into bringing back Mooen for the game or even Jadeja promoting himself up the order to get some much-needed runs under his belt?

Dhoni holds the key after powerplay against a team he's scored five fifties and an overall 630 runs at an average of 52.5.

Pls support Punjab today na😭