Thursday’s washout in Hyderabad meant that Sunrisers Hyderabad joined Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals as the three confirmed teams for the playoffs and the race is now for only one spot with two teams in fray -- CSK and RCB.
The Super Kings are currently fourth in the standings with 12 points from as many games but the defeat against Gujarat Titans on Friday has added pressure on them, and they now find themselves in a must-win situation in their remaining two matches.
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will be hoping to make up for the loss of their frontline bowlers, and take forward the ‘bowling’ positives from their last fixture when they take on a struggling bottom-placed Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
With 10 points from nine matches so far, the Yellow Brigade share similar figures with Lucknow Super Giants, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals, and as such will be desperately looking to break away from the logjam
Both sides head into the match with contrasting fortunes, as the CSK brigade are coming off two successive victories, and are comfortably placed at the third position in the IPL points tally with four wins from their six outings so far.
Dhoni, who has led CSK to four IPL titles, will be close to 42 by the next IPL season. But, the cricketer is still a vital cog for them.
Hardik recently returned to the India squad for the T20I series against South Africa, where he made some critical contributions. His selection followed a sensational IPL season with the Gujarat Titans, where he proved his form and fitness by leading them to the title.
Pretorius, who will now be turning out in South Africa colours in the five-match T20I series against India beginning in New Delhi on June 9, said that he likes Dhoni's philosophy of, "anything is always possible".
Former India captain and IPL side Chennai Super Kings stalwart Mahendra Singh Dhoni has stressed that district cricket is the most important things for budding cricketers, which opens the door for them to play state-level cricket.
Ruturaj Gaikwad top-scored for CSK with 53 runs while N Jagadeesan remained unbeaten on 39. Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, and Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore bagged one wicket each while Mohammed Shami picked two for Gujarat Titans.
