Upbeat LSG visit Dhoni and Co on home turf

Big picture - CSK get their home ground back for full season

If your reflexes slow down with age, how is Chennai Super Kings' 'Dad's Army' planning to face Mark Wood's fiery pace on Monday? Jokes aside, Super Kings' youngest batter Ruturaj Gaikwad was in blazing form in their opening game and could hold the key again with his ability to put away even good balls to the boundary. Jokes not aside, their other batters need to step up, as coach Stephen Fleming said after the game, because Gaikwad had laid a long runway for them by powering them to 114 for 3 in 12 overs, but their middle over couldn't take off, managing just 64 more in eight overs.

Their most comforting factor, however, is that they return to their den after four long years. They have always picked their spinners based on conditions at Chepauk, batted well there, and won a whopping 40 of their 56 matches at home.

Many Lucknow Super Giants players will be unfamiliar with that ground, but so will some Super Kings players. What will boost Super Giants' confidence will be how their power hitters smashed 16 sixes (and just five fours) on a challenging pitch on Saturday night for what looked like an above-par 193 in Lucknow. They now have to make sure they adapt smartly on a more turning pitch - they collected 73 off eight overs of spin against Delhi Capitals - and prepare for the game quickly after flying from Lucknow to Chennai with only a day's gap.

Team news

Quinton de Kock will fly to Chennai after South Africa's final ODI against Netherlands finishes on Sunday evening, which makes his participation for Monday highly unlikely. However, Super Giants won't sweat over it considering the way Kyle Mayers opened with a 38-ball 73 in their first game.

Similarly, Super Kings will be without Sisanda Magala, who's with the South Africa squad, and the Sri Lanka pair of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana who are missing their first three games because of the ongoing T20Is in New Zealand

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Lucknow Super Giants

Did Super Giants nail the use of the Impact Player in their first match? Batting first, they brought in K Gowtham after 19.5 overs when Ayush Badoni fell for 18 off seven, and Gowtham walked out to smash a six on the only ball he faced. Gowtham then bowled four overs for just 23 runs inspite of a lot of dew. They could do the same on Monday if batting first, and the reverse if they bowl first. Additionally, they may even pick an extra spinner in place of Jaydev Unadkat, who leaked 39 in three overs against Capitals and has a forgettable record against MS Dhoni and Super Kings both.

Probable bat-first XI: 1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), 2 Kyle Mayers, 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Ayush Badoni, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Avesh Khan, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Mark Wood

Probable bowl-first XI: 1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), 2 Kyle Mayers, 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 K Gowtham, 8 Avesh Khan, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Mark Wood

Chennai Super Kings

Super Kings may want to rethink their strategy from the first game. Bringing in Tushar Deshpande for Ambati Rayudu after they finished batting was good thinking, but the bowler leaked 51 runs in just 3.2 overs. But without Magala, Theekshana and Pathirana their only experienced option instead of Deshpande is Simarjeet Singh because Dwaine Pretorius can't be brought in if they start with four overseas players. Knowing MS Dhoni, he may not make any changes at all.

Possible bat-first XI: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Ben Stokes, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 9 Mitchell Santner, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Rajvardhan Hangargekar

Possible bowl-first XI: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Ben Stokes, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Ravindra Jadeja, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Rajvardhan Hangargekar, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Simarjeet Singh/Tushar Deshpande

Stats that matter

• Super Giants opener KL Rahul starts slow sometimes but he strikes at 160 against Deepak Chahar and has never fallen to him.

• It will be Devon Conway's first game at Chepauk and he already has a promising record against spin in the IPL: 53 runs off 23 balls, striking at 230.43, and just one dismissal

• Moeen didn't bowl against Capitals but he probably will in Chennai, especially with left-handed batters Mayers, Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya in the opposite XI. In the IPL, Moeen has leaked at just 6.79 an over to left-hand batters.

Pitch and conditions

Spinners picked 11 of the 18 wickets taken by bowlers in the recent ODI between India and Australia, and Monday's game could be similar, with not too many runs in store. It's also expected to be hot and very humid with some breeze around. And don't expect any empty seats because, well, it's Dhoni returning to his "second home".