Match 17 of the 2025 Indian Premier League season brings us a clash between the Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Capitals under the scorching Chennai sun at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on April 5.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
Indian Premier League 2025 | Match 17: Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals | 15:30 IST, April 5
The Super Kings have now lost two games on the trot, against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Rajasthan Royals, after starting the season with a win against the Mumbai Indians.
Against both RCB and RR, CSK had the same problem. The opposition batters took their bowlers to the cleaners during both the Powerplay and the middle overs, while their own batters capitulated against the new ball and failed to consolidate through the middle. Batters Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra, seamers Khaleel Ahmed and Matheesa Pathirana, and spin wizard Noor Ahmad have shown promise, but the rest are yet to make significant contributions.
The Capitals, on the other hand, have flown out of the blocks, having won their opening two fixtures against the Lucknow Super Giants and the SunRisers Hyderabad. Playing at Visakhapatnam—their home away from home—DC have taken advantage of the conditions and have been helped by some brilliant individual performances. While Ashutosh Sharma shone in their first game, Australian pacer Mitchell Starc ran riot in the second, picking up five wickets and helping his side restrict SRH to a modest total of 163.
Chasing against the SunRisers, the five DC players who took the crease contributed well, with out-of-sorts Jake Fraser-McGurk scoring 38 off 32 to get some much-needed runs under his belt. Vice-captain Faf du Plessis carried on his good form with a quick-fire fifty, while the likes of Abishek Porel, the returning KL Rahul, and Tristan Stubbs all got runs on the board.
At Chepauk, the Capitals definitely have the players to make another dent in CSK’s hopes of returning to winning ways. The likes of du Plessis, Porel, Rahul, and Stubbs are all solid players of spin, while their own spin duo of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, along with the young leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam, is more than capable of causing the CSK batters all sorts of problems.
CSK need to address their Powerplay issues both in the batting and bowling departments going forward, but for this game DC will feel confident in their ability to add to the misery of the five-time IPL champions.
Fantasy XI: Abishek Porel, Faf du Plessis (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, KL Rahul, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad (vc), Mitchell Starc
Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Winners Prediction: Delhi Capitals
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