Chennai Super Kings and Lahore Lions are itching to collect Champions League Twenty20 points. While the Indian club has lost and won one each, Lahore Lions have not had any success in the main draw of the event so far. While their task would not be easy against a formidable unit under the command of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Pakistan side would look to stay true to their promise of thrilling Indian fans with impressive cricket. (Live cricket score | Points table )
Chennai's Suresh Raina will hope to recreate his innings of 90 - scored against Dolphins - when he takes on Lahore.
© BCCI
Chennai enter the match as favourites - a tag that they have had for long. In fact, the team is expected by many to even win the title. Their performance so far though has been a bitter-sweet tale and Dhoni recently lashed out at the Mohali track for not allowing his players to be at their best.
The team suffered a seven-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening match of the tournament. While there were some solid individual performances - Ashish Nehra's 4/21 being the highlight, batting failed to light up the sky. The batsmen however delivered in the second match against Dolphins.
Chennai smashed a mammoth 242 with Suresh Raina's 43-ball 90 blitzkrieg stealing the show. While the team won the match by 54 runs, the bowlers took some clobbering which meant the list of areas to improve still had a fw glaring bullet points.
In contrast, Lahore Lions were completely outclassed in their first and only match so far. While Ahmed Shehzad (59) and Umar Akmal (40) did get valuable runs, the team lost the match by four wickets.
Battles to watch out for:
Nehra vs Shehzad: The bowler is not known for his consistency but Nehra has the ability to surprise his critics. With the new ball, he can challenge Shehzad's menacingly cautious approach to batting.
Ashwin vs Umar: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going for Ashwin. His spin seems to lure batsmen to attack but more often than not, they pay the price with their wicket. And Umar does not like to give up his cheaply. An attacking batsman at No. 4, when Umar goes on the prowl, aggression and not stealth is the usual nature of the hunt.
Raina vs Cheema: Raina has been in excellent touch. He had a good ODI series in England and his knock against Dolphins was stunning as well. Underestimating Aizaz Cheema though would be a blunder. The bowler claimed two key wickets against Kolkata and would be looking for more.
Pitch and conditions:
The Bangalore track favours the brave and big shots make for a lengthy highlights package. Even the boundaries are not known for being one of the farthest in the world which means bowlers would have a tough task.
Captains have looked to win the toss and field first because of two primary reasons. Firstly, a target on the board makes for easy - and planned - hitting in the second match as Dhoni has maintained through CLT20 2014. Secondly, dew becomes a crucial factor and bowlers have been seen struggling to grip the ball.
The weather is likely to hover around the 26C mark and a gentle breeze - trademark of Bangalore climate - will look to play a complimentary role to the cricket action here.
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