Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab are going to face each other in an important preliminary round match today (20 May 2009). The match important for deciding who between the two teams would go through the semi final of IPL 2009 because the winner of the match would find themselves in the last four of the tournament. It is true that the winning team of the match would reach the semi final, but the losing side would not be totally out of semi final contention. However, there is no doubt, both sides would like to cement their semi final spot winning today’s crunch game at Kingsmeadm, Durban, South Africa.
Match: CSK vs KXIP, Preliminary Round, IPL 2009
Date: 20 May 2009
Time: Local time 16:30; GMT 14:30
Venue: Kingsmeadm, Durban, South Africa
Live TV: Sony SAT Max
With Delhi Daredevils already through to the semi final, there are at least 5 teams in semi final contention at this moment including Chennai, Punjab, Bangalore, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals. Just 1 match left for each of the five teams in IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament. Chennai currently secures the second place in the point table with 15 points, while Punjab, Deccan and Bangalore all have 14 points each. Rajasthan, however, has 13 points to their credit. Chennai now seems to be a little bit safer than Punjab, given their excellent net run rate. However, Punjab is not in a position from there they can relax.
Even if Chennai loses against Punjab, they would still be very much active in the semi final run because of their excellent positive run rate. In that case, Chennai would just expect Rajasthan Royals does not clinch a big margin victory over Kolkata Knight Rider. However, Dhoni’s team would know about the equation very well because by the time they would take on Punjab, Rajasthan Royals would have played their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
For Punjab, the victory is very much needed today because they do not have a good run rate which could save them after another setback today. Kings XI Punjab survived a threatening challenge of Deccan Chargers in their last game, and thus, keeping their semi final hops alive. Now today, if Punjab loses, they would have to expect Kolkata defeats Rajasthan in today’s first encounter, and then Deccan Chargers pulls off a big margin victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers tomorrow. Among the teams who have 14 points, Punjab has worst run rate. However, as I said earlier that Kolkata vs Rajasthan match would b e completed before Punjab faces Chennai, so they would know about the seemingly complex equation better.
Chennai suffered a setback in their last game against Kolkata when Hodge and McCullum successfully chased down their 188 run total. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni expressed his disappointment at the performance of their bowlers. However, I do not think Chennai would bring any change in their bowling line up. In the presence of off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and left arm spinner Shadab Jakati, Chennai Super Kings have an admirable spin attack. Chennai would have to choose between Jacob Oram and George Bailey, while Albie Morkel will play as an all rounder. L Balaji and Sudeep Tyagi will form Chennai’s pace attack. In their batting line up, there are a number of hard hitters in Mathew Hayden, who has been in sparkling form so far in the tournament with highest run to his credit, Raina, Dhoni, Morkel, and Badrinath. Chennai would either play M Vijay or Parthiv Patel against Punjab Kings XI.
Punjab would expect Mahela Jayawardene gets back his fitness before the game and would be in contention for the first eleven. However, if Jayawardene does not retain his fitness, then Luke Pomersbach would continue filling in the gap. Punjab has a very strong batting line up in the presence of Simon Katich, Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara and all rounder Irfan Pathan. Chennai would either feature Sunny Sohal or Karan Goel today. Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar, who took a stern test of Deccan batsmen in the last match, would form the spin attack, while their pace attack would features any two of the three pacers: Sreesanth, Brett Lee and Yusuf Abdulla.
Online Live Score and Updates
You can get the live score and updates of the match from the following websites:
Cricinfo
Cricket Next
The Times of
Yahoo Cricket
ipl.co.in
ICC cricket world cup live
24timepass.com
Cricket.indifun
Chennai Super Kings Live Streaming
Punjab may not have won any of their last four meetings against Chennai, but they would be gearing up to take revenge against Dhoni’s boys. To be honest, it would be very difficult for Punjab to make it to the last four, if they lose against Chennai today. For Chennai, they might be active in the semi final race, even if they lose today, but I do not think, Dhoni would like to do so. Rather, Chennai captain would like to win the last match in what would ensure their semi final progress, and boost up their confidence level before the semi final encounter. So, I think, it would be an exciting encounter between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab.
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