Chennai Super Kings v Punjab Kings IPL Tips: Super Kings strong at home

• CSK too powerful at home

• Dhawan a bet

• Punjab rely on Chahar

Chennai Super Kings v Punjab Kings
Sunday 30 April, 11:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Team news

Chennai's three-game winning streak was snapped by Rajasthan Royals last time out. Conceding 202 was not ideal and despite Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube hitting well, they never caught up with the required rate. Deepak Chahar could soon be available again following a hamstring problem. There's no room for Ben Stokes if he was fit.

Possible XII: Gaikwad, Conway, Rahane, Dube, Rayudu, Jadeja, Moeen, Dhoni, Pathirana, Deshpande, Theekshana, Akash

Punjab, depsite their willingness to hit boundaries, are just not up to it with the ball at the moment. They conceded a massive 257 against Lucknow with only Rahul Chahar unharmed. Shikhar Dhwana has returned to fitness, though.

Possible XII: Dhawan, Prabhisimran, Taide, Livingstone, Raza, S Curran, Jitesh, Shahrukh, Chahar, Rabada, Arshdeep, Gurnoor

Pitch report

Scores of 217, 175 and 134 this term at the Chepauk make the pitch difficult to read on scorecards only. The first two were narrow wins for the defender suggest it should be pretty good for batting.

But those who saw Royals defend the 175 by three will know it's hard to accelerate. That could play to Punjab's death advantage so shorting CSK after their usual fast start in the first six is a fair ploy on the par line.

How to play

Chennai are a strong outfit this season and returning to fortress Chepauk is a good opportunity for punters when the match odds are so generous. We're surprised they're as big as 1.834/5 for this one.

To win at this ground you need to have two world-class spinners we'd suggest. Punjab are unlikely to be able to make that boast although Chahar is more than solid.

Tops value

Dhawan and opposite number Gaikwad have been boosted to 13/5 and 11/4 respectively for top Punjab and CSK bat with Sportsbook. Against the six-man CSK attack above, Dhawan has faced 118 balls and scored 155 runs. That makes him a wager. Gaikwad averages just 19 against Punjab's best four (Arshdeep, Curran, Rabada, CHahar. That's a swerve.