CSK Playing 11 in IPL 2020: Chennai Super Kings Predicted XI and full squad for IPL 2020

CSK Playing 11 in IPL 2020: The SportsRush present before you Chennai Super Kings’ Predicted XI for the first match of IPL 2020.

Chennai Super Kings, who finished the last season of the Indian Premier League as its runners-up, had an inactive yet effective auction last night.

Having released only five players from their IPL 2019 squad last month, Chennai weren’t expected to bid heavily in the auction. With their lone overseas fast bowler in Lungi Ngidi getting frequently injured in the last year or so, Super Kings have included two more overseas fast bowlers in Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and England’s Sam Curran.

Known for sticking with their players, don’t expect widespread changes in their Playing XI for the first match of IPL 2020.

CSK Playing 11 in IPL 2020

Top-order

It is highly likely that Super Kings will stick with their top-order comprising of Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina. The trio might not have scored heaps of runs in the previous season but stood up on their potential when required the most (especially Watson and Raina).

It was Faf du Plessis who opened the batting with Watson in many matches of IPL 2019. Having said that, their desire to play an overseas fast bowler won’t allow them to play both Watson and du Plessis at the top.

Middle-order

Much like the last season, all-rounder Kedar Jadhav and captian Mahendra Singh Dhoni will take care of the middle-order responsibilities. With no clarity on Dhoni’s international future, his bountiful fans would be eager to watch him bat in IPL 2020.

Chennai would be tempted to bat all-rounder Sam Curran in the middle-order. It is worth mentioning that the southpaw generally scores well when he is given a proper chance to bat. Having scored four T20 half-centuries, Curran has time and again put on display his batting credentials in the past.

All-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who recently opted out of international retirement, will play the finishing duty for the Super Kings. A veteran of 450 T20s, Bravo has, on many occasions, finished matches for CSK in the past.

Bowlers

Playing Curran will also provide Chennai with another left-arm bowling alongside the tried and tested Jadeja. As far as the specialist bowlers are concerned, Deepak Chahar is a confirmed to start proceedings for them on the back of two successful seasons.

CSK will need to pick one between their overseas fast bowling options – Lungi Ngidi and Josh Hazlewood. Considering the format, it seems that the former will get the first opportunity. Having struggled with the fitness of their overseas pacers of late, Chennai would be careful regarding the same in IPL 2020.

Another notable point to consider is the slowness of the surface in Chennai. In a bid to deceive the visiting teams, Dhoni might also look to play spinner Imran Tahir as the fourth overseas player.

An ideal combination for them for two bowling spots available would be to play an overseas fast bowler and an Indian spinner or an overseas spinner and an Indian fast bowler.

Among the Indian spinners, Harbhajan Singh should get the nod ahead of the likes of Piyush Chawla, Karn Sharma and R Sai Kishore. With Jadeja already in the squad, the presence of Harbhajan will give them an option of a spinner who turns the ball the other way.

The preference to include a wrist spinner in Tahir’s absence might make way for Chawla in the Playing XI.

CSK Predicted Playing XI for IPL 2020 – 1) Shane Watson 2) Ambati Rayudu 3) Suresh Raina 4) Kedar Jadhav 5) MS Dhoni (c & wk) 6) Sam Curran 7) Dwayne Bravo 8) Ravindra Jadeja 9) Deepak Chahar 10) Harbhajan Singh / Piyush Chawla 11) Imran Tahir / Lungi Ngidi.

Chennai Super Kings Full Squad for IPL 2020

MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Lungi Ngidi, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Narayan Jagadeeshan, Harbhajan Singh, KM Asif, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Shane Watson, Imran Tahir, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Chahar, Monu Kumar, Karn Sharma, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, R Sai Kishore, Josh Hazlewood.