Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Chennai: After two successive losses, Chennai Super Kings would be desperate to get back to their winning ways against a lowly-placed Deccan Chargers Hyderabad at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.

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 Sunday exposed the chinks in their armour.

Former New Zealand 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 Albie Morkel, an allrounder and Makhaya Ntini, who joined the team in its fifth match, seems to be still settling down.

But a victory would help Super Kings keep alive their hopes of entering the semi-final stage.

For V.V.S. 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.

However, Laxman’s captaincy has not been impressive with criticism pointing out that his team lacked in the art of strategising.

However, Laxman insisted that his team was determined to win against Chennai Super Kings.

“We have lost a few very close matches after being in winning situations.

Super kings have lost two games no doubt, but we have lost five. So, that makes us even more determined than them to win tomorrow (Tuesday),” Laxman said.

Laxman said: “It is a great experience to lead players from different countries. They are all professionals and I do not need to tell them individually because they know their responsibilities”.

Laxman denied that the loss of Andrew Symonds who left for Australia to join his national team had affected his side’s batting.

“There are other big-hitters in the team like Adam Gilchrist and Scott Styris, besides Shahid Afridi. So, in that respect, I am quite happy with the combination that we have,” he said.

“I am doing well opening the innings, but if the situation requires, then we will certainly change the order. Perhaps, even Afridi will open the innings if necessary.

“It all depends on the situation on a given day,” he said.