IPL preview: Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will aim to keep their unbeaten home run intact as they host Deccan Chargers at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Sunday.

A win in this match will give MS Dhoni and Co their fourth successive win at home while for Deccan it gives them an opportunity to go level on points.

Chennai are on eight points with seven games while the Deccan, winners of the 2009 edition, have six from as many games. And now both teams would be desperate to pick up points that will take them closer to the playoffs — top four spot.

Chennai, who have a good batting attack, will be wary of Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma, who are in red hot form at the moment.

The opening pair of Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey has been the main reason for their success as more often than not they have laid the foundation for Chennai's victory.

Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina and skipper Dhoni provide enough stability in the middle order.

Their bowling has also been on the spot. With the return of Aussie fast bowler Doug Bollinger, backed by off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Time Southee, Chennai has the capability to keep a check on the strongest batting line-up.

Their fielding too has gone up a few notches, that gives them a well-rounded and settled appearance.

Deccan, on the other hand, will be banking on skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who is the only consistent performer for the visitors, to come up with another inspirational performance.

In the last match against Kochi Tuskers, they managed to defend a modest total of 130 thanks to Sharma, who returned with figures of 5 for 12 in three overs.

Playing at home and their recent performance might give Chennai an edge over Deccan. However, if the vistors manage to come up with a performance as similar to the one against Kochi then there will be no stopping Deccan.

Teams: (from):
Chennai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Michael Hussey, Albie Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, G Bailey, Tim Southee, F du Plessis, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Joginder Sharma, Yo Mahesh, A Mukund, Wriddhiman Saha, Scott Styris, Sudeep Tyagi, K Vasudevadas, G Vignesh.

Deccan: Kumar Sangakkara (c), Ashish Reddy, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Akash Bhandari, Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Kedar Devdhar, Shikhar Dhawan, Jean Paul Duminy, Manpreet Gony, Harmeet Singh, Ishank Jaggi, Michael Lumb, Chris Lynn, Ishan Malhotra, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ravi Teja, Jaydev Shah, Ishant Sharma, Sunny Sohal, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Cameron White, Arjun Yadav.