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CSK look to bounce back against Deccan Chargers
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings would look to bounce back after their humiliating defeat against Mumbai Indians in the campaign-opener when they take on a depleted Deccan Chargers in their second IPL fixture on Saturday.
Chennai, the most consistent side in the short history of IPL, were beaten fair and square in front of their home crowd by Mumbai in the inaugural match of the season on Wednesday and they would look to register their first win of the edition against Deccan, one of the weaker sides this year.
The side led by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not look like a team chasing a hat-trick of titles with their key batsmen failing miserably and bowlers coming a cropper to lose against Mumbai by eight wickets. They could post a meager 112 and lost the match with 19 balls to spare.
Much will depend on the combine of Dhoni and Suresh Raina to secure Chennai's first win. Both have not been in the best of forms recently and they would look to make a mark for their team on Saturday.
Ashwin, Bollinger will be eager to make a mark
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, the costliest player at this year's auction, came a cropper against Mumbai, but he can be a match-winner any day with his all-round skills in home conditions.
Two other key players, Australian Doug Bollinger and Ravichandran Ashwin -- their pace and spin spearheads -- would also be eager to make a mark quickly in the tournament against a side which will be without captain Kumar Sangakkara who would be missing Saturday's match due to national duty against England in Sri Lanka.
Deccan, on the other hand, are one of the least fancied sides this year with some of their key players having to sit out of the tournament.
They failed to progress to the knock-out phase last year and finished seventh. This year, the Hyderabad-based side will miss the services of India pacer Ishant Sharma who underwent surgery on his ankle recently.
West Indian Darren Bravo, who has been compared with the legendary batsman Brian Lara, will also not be available as he will be doing national duty at home in the Test series against Australia starting on Saturday.
Mishra's form crucial for Deccan Chargers
Much of Deccan's batting responsibility will fall on Australian Cameron White, South African Jean-Paul Duminy Indian players Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel, this year's only big signing.
On the bowling front, the outcome of the match could depend on South African pacer Dale Steyn and Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra. Mishra was the leading wicket-taker for Deccan last season, with 19 scalps.
The Squads (From):
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt & wk),Srikkanth Anirudha, Ravichandran Ashwin, SubramaniamBadrinath, George Bailey, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Faf duPlessis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hussey, Ravindra Jadeja,Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, NuwanKulasekara, Yo Mahesh, Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina, WriddhimanSaha, Scott Styris, Sudeep Tyagi, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas,Ganapathi Vignesh, Murali Vijay.
Deccan Chargers: Cameron White, Shikhar Dhawan, Jean-PaulDuminy, Manpreet Gony, Daniel Harris, Parthiv Patel, DaleSteyn, Rusty Theron, Ishank Jaggi, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala,Chris Lynn, Amit Mishra, Tanmay Mishra, Ashish Reddy, AnandRajan, Ankit Sharma, Tekkami Atchuta Rao, Akash Bhandari,Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Kedar Devdhar, Veer PratapSingh, Syed Quadri, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Akshath Reddy, BiplabSamantray, Sneha Kishore, Sunny Sohal, Tanmay Srivastava, TPSudhindra, Arjun Yadav.