These are early days in this edition with teams looking for ways to turn an effective combination into a winning one. Whether it is the eternal favourite Chennai Super Kings or perennial under-performer Kings XI Punjab, all franchises are in test-run mode before the bigger battles.
When the two ‘Kings’ clash here on Sunday, home skipper R. Ashwin will have the advantage of knowing how the CSK think-tank approaches a contest. An integral part of CSK in the past decade, Ashwin can be expected to use every bit of information from his mental database to help Kings XI.
KXIP, clearly one of the most balanced teams in the fray, is capable of snapping CSK’s two-win sequence. Ashwin can be expected to pull CSK out of its comfort zone the way the Chennai side lifted itself from the dumps against Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Even before the start of the campaign, Ashwin had spoken about springing surprises on the opposition. A change in the batting order has been one of them; he also tried 12 overs of spin against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a losing cause on Friday. The Kings XI skipper’s next trick could well be worth waiting for.
Unlike Kings, Super Kings have to deal with unusual problems. The shifting of the six home games to Pune means that their original combination suited for home conditions will no longer be the same.
With the injured Kedar Jadhav ruled out of the tournament, a side-strain keeping Faf du Plessis away from action, M. Vijay recovering from a rib-injury and a calf-injury forcing Suresh Raina out for two games, Super Kings were further hit when South African pacer Lungi Ngidi had to fly home after the news of his father’s death.
Coach Stephen Fleming did touch upon the importance of Raina in the team but was quick to add, “We have replacements up the order. Dhruv Shorey and Vijay can fill the gap till Raina is fit again to play.”
