The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai team suffered embarrassing losses to Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals after the departure of Australians Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey and hard hitting Jacob Oram of New Zealand.
But Dhoni’s men would like to cash in on the opportunity against the Deccan Chargers, who have so far struggled to choose a winning combination and are placed at the bottom of the points table with just one win to their credit at the half-way stage of the league phase.
Dhoni said his team should not be rated by one innings when they lost to Delhi Daredevils here last week, but their mauling at the hands of Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals on Sunday exposed the chinks in their armour.
Former Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming was not able to provide a good start to the team as an opener in their last two matches while South Africans all-rounder Albie Morkel, and paceman Makhaya Ntini, who joined the team in its fifth match, seems to be still settling down.
Get confidence back
But a win would help Super Kings get the confidence back and keep alive their hopes of entering the semifinal stage.
For VVS Laxman’s Deccan Chargers, Rohit Sharma has been the main stay while Australian Adam Gilchrist appears to have hit a bad patch after an unbeaten century plus score. Herschelle Gibbs in his two matches has scored just 12 runs.
Laxman said he was hoping to win since his team would not be under pressure and a victory would be a bonus to them.
“We do hope that our batsmen would enjoy playing on Chennai pitch and are able to post a sizeable total. We are counting on a decent performance here tomorrow to be able to win the match,” he said.