New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings will face Delhi Capitals in Match No. 67 of IPL 2023 on Saturday (May 20) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The match against DC, which is already out of the race to qualify for IPL 2023 playoffs race is a must-win for MS Dhoni-led side. With 15 points from 13 matches played so far, CSK sit at the No. 2 position in points table and if they win against DC, they will confirm a place in the playoffs, but if they lose then they can miss out on a place in the last four. Their chances will then depend on the result of RCB and MI’s final league stage match that will take place on Sunday against GT and SRH respectively.
CSK, which finished at the second last place in IPL last year has performed well this year and will be looking to secure a big win over DC to reach the last four. But ahead of the team’s final league stage match, the team will nervously wait upon the availability of team’s captain and star wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni. Dhoni who is dealing with a knee injury is not 100 per cent fit as revealed by team’s batting coach Michael Hussey. But he has still played in all 13 matches so far. But he could miss out on the team’s match against DC on Saturday.
Dhoni, who was seen with a heavy strapping near his left knee during CSK’s lap of honour in Chennai earlier this week, missed the team’s practice session in Kotla on Friday which raised doubts over his availability for the match. If he misses out the game, which could possibly be his last, if CSK fails to reach the playoffs, then it will be a big blow to team’s chances of winning. Devon Conway will then play as wicketkeeper in his absence but Dhoni’s prsence is more than just a stumper.
Dhoni has done well in IPL 2023 as a lower-order batter as well and has hammered 10 sixes in 13 innings.
CSK’s IPL squad: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Nishant Sindhu, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Akash Singh, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Sisanda Magala, Ben Stokes, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, RS Hangargekar, Bhagath Varma, Simarjeet Singh