IPL 2025 | Will the battered CSK batters fire against PBKS

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. Karnataka Today Your daily dose of news highlights from Karnataka First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Updated - April 29, 2025 10:01 pm IST - Chennai Exuberant lot: Skipper Shreyas will have high hopes from young gun Priyansh. | Photo Credit: M. VEDHAN Chennai Super Kings has been a gracious host to visiting teams in IPL 2025, having lost the last four matches in its backyard at the MAC Stadium. But despite its nightmarish run, passionate fans have turned up and supported their favourite franchise. On Wednesday, Super Kings have an opportunity to delight their supporters when they take on Punjab Kings in their season’s penultimate home game. Even though they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad last Friday, there were green shoots in the batting unit, with Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis showing promise during their cameos. CSK player Ayush Mhatre during the practice session ahead of the IPL match between CSK and PBKS. | Photo Credit: VEDHAN M Considering the five-time champion is all but eliminated, it will want to give the youngsters a sustained run with others like Vansh Bedi and C. Andre Siddarth waiting in the wings. Meanwhile, PBKS, currently in fifth place, will look to do the double over the Men in Yellow and improve its chances of making the playoffs. Shreyas Iyer & Co. start as favourites and can rely on their superior batting to secure the two points. On the bowling front, spinners Yuzvendra Chahal, alongside Glenn Maxwell and Harpreet Brar, will have a crucial role to play here. The Punjab outfit’s last game, against KKR, was washed out, and it had lost the one before that against RCB. As the tournament approaches its business end, Kings will want to capitalise on a bruised opponent and regain their winning momentum, especially with three challenging games against teams vying for the top-four spots looming after this fixture. Terms & conditions  |  Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.