IPL 2019 – Match 5: Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings – CSK Predicted Playing XI

After registering a hard-fought win at the Chepauk, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be on the road for their next match in the IPL 2019. The team, which has dealt with the demons of the MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch, will now be playing on another unpredictable track at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The Delhi Capitals, who are fresh off a terrific win against the Mumbai Indians (MI) will play hosts to them.

CSK raised many eyebrows with their team selection for the game against RCB. Despite having quite a few very good overseas options, they chose to field only three foreigners. MS Dhoni mentioned that Harbhajan Singh’s is one slot that they could shuffle around a bit at the post-match presentation. So, with the conditions being quite different in Delhi, will the Chennai team pick their eleven accordingly or go with an unchanged eleven?

Here is the Predicted Playing XI for Chennai Super Kings (CSK):

Openers (Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson)

In the tournament opener against RCB, Ambati Rayudu played a gritty knock. He tried to stay in the middle for as long as possible and helped his side inch closer to the target. The right-hander faced 42 balls in the middle and hit 28 runs. He hit two fours and one six in his innings and looked to be in decent touch.

Shane Watson was absolutely clueless while playing on the rank turner at the Chepauk. He fended at 10 deliveries before Yuzvendra Chahal got through the gate and bowled him. The Australian is coming off a great season in the PSL and he could possibly score big in Delhi.

Middle Order (Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (c)(wk))

Suresh Raina, the first batsman to score 5,000 runs in the IPL, showed great intent in the first game. Even though the pitch was tough, he tried to take the attack to the bowlers. He hit three boundaries and seemed to be extremely positive. He is expected to play a much more impactful knock when he takes on the Capitals.

Faf du Plessis has been in terrific form of late. The Proteas skipper had a brilliant outing in the ODI series and the 1st T20I against Sri Lanka recently. Thus, it gets extremely difficult to put him out of the eleven. CSK is highly likely to bring him back in and he could bat at number four or open the innings otherwise. With Faf in the eleven, MS Dhoni will have to bat at five. He didn’t walk out to bat against Bangalore.

All Rounders (Kedar Jadhav, DJ Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja)

Chennai will continue to field Kedar Jadhav and DJ Bravo in the eleven. Both of them are utility players and can turn the game around within no time. Kedar remained unbeaten on 13 in the last game while Bravo picked up a wicket off the first ball that he bowled. They will both play a critical part for CSK going ahead in the tournament and they’ll need to maintain their fitness as well.

Ravindra Jadeja is nearly unplayable when the ball grips and turns. The southpaw is highly economical and picked up two wickets against RCB. It’d be better if CSK doesn’t rely on him much with the bat. The Saurashtra cricketer can add a few important runs with the willow but isn’t someone who scores very quickly.

Bowlers (Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir)

The duo of Deepak Chahar and Harbhajan Singh did tremendously well in the last game. While Chahar kept one end tight and applied pressure, Bhajji used all his experience and chipped in with important wickets at the other end. Harbhajan picked up the big wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Moeen Ali. He was the ‘Man of the Match’ in the last match and will want to prove a point in the upcoming game as well.

Imran Tahir has been doing really well in recent times. The Lahore, Punjab-born has done the job over and again for South Africa and is expected to be much more effective on the Indian tracks playing for CSK. The leg-spinner is in a great frame of mind and has been picking up some important wickets even though he might leak a few runs at times.

Here is CSK’s squad for IPL 2019

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