IPL 2021, CSK v DC Preview: Battle Of The WicketKeepers

Saturday night will see a clash between the master and the apprentice. MS Dhoni, who is on the last bend of his career and has been turning up only for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) since his retirement f

The CSK batting will rely a lot on Faf du Plessis but the return of Suresh Raina, who missed the last season, will be a boost for the three-time champions as they look to do better this time than the seventh-place finish they got last season.

India's Test batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara too has been included in the CSK line-up for his first IPL in seven years. The India No. 3 batsman was seen using a higher back-lift and hitting sixes in one of the net sessions.

CSK blundered last year by not reading the pitches well and not playing their spinners early enough. They realised their mistake and started to give Mitchell Santner and Imran Tahir matches. But it was too late by then.

One man who could make a difference is Shardul Thakur, who has done exceedingly well for India since the last IPL. He would be leading their pace bowling along with Deepak Chahar or Aussie Jason Behrendorff, who has come in for Josh Hazlewood.

But essentially, CSK's fate on Saturday will depend on how their batting stands up to DC's bowling.

DC squad: Rishabh Pant (captain/wicketkeeper), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Sam Billings, Shimron Hetmyer, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Umesh Yadav, Tom Curran, Avesh Khan, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Ripal Patel, Lukman Hussain Meriwala, M Siddharth, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Vishnu Vinod (wicketkeeper), Aditya Tare (wicketkeeper)

CSK squad: MS Dhoni (captain/wicketkeeper), Suresh Raina, Narayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, M.Harisankar Reddy, K.Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishaanth, R Sai Kishore