CHENNAI: When two captains who have nine IPL titles between themselves go against each other there are bound to be tremors. A sell-out crowd is eagerly waiting to witness MS Dhoni take on India skipper Rohit Sharma in what could be one of the final clashes of one of finest connoisseurs of the game.
CSK have 11 points from 10 games, while Mumbai have 10 points from nine games. If one looks at the pattern of how teams make it to the play-offs, one needs to win a minimum of eight games to make it to the final round. CSK has four games left and must win a minimum of three to keep their hopes alive.
"You don’t want to calculate what you have to win and what you don’t have to win. We of course had the rain that (last) game that has given us that extra point, but we just have to take every game as it comes and try and win every match. This tournament is about pressure from the start, but you just take each game as it comes and try and win them as you can,’’ said bowling consultant Eric Simons on the eve of the clash.
CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway have been scoring the bulk of runs for the hosts in turns. Simons said that Conway’s ability to play square of the wicket and the knack of picking up the gaps is what makes him stand out. "Conway is an extremely versatile, difficult batter to bowl dot balls to and possesses a lot of game awareness,” said Simons.
Meanwhile, Conway’s counterpart Ishan Kishan was confident that he and Mumbai are ready to take on CSK at their den. His confidence stems from the fact that his team won the last two games in contrasting styles. Since Mumbai has been chasing well, it should not come as a surprise if they prefer the same on Saturday.
“That’s not my call anyway, I think the management will decide what to do but our intent is going to be very clear. Like if the ball is there to be hit, we’ll go for it because you know in T20 cricket, you just need one or two good overs. We know they (CSK) have got plenty of spinners on their side. Because we have played so many years of IPL we know how the wicket is going to play especially in Chennai, so we are ready for any condition,” said Kishan.
The southpaw believed that a good start was imperative during a chase and also spoke about the importance of a positive mindset that helped him put Mumbai on front foot against Punjab Kings. ‘’I think it’s very important when you’re chasing such a big total. You need your powerplay to be good. It was important not to let the bowlers dominate and instead put pressure on them. So that’s the positive mindset we keep on in every game,” revealed Kishan.
Every time these to teams have played in Chennai, they have produced some epic contests in the past decade, thanks to Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo and Hardik Pandya. While many of them have moved on to different franchises or coaching, there are two names that still remains — Sharma and Dhoni. Will the Chennai’s Thala be able to finally get better of Sharma the captain at his home ground?
Rashid, Noor shine for GT
Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals surrendered against the Gujarat Titans’ duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad to be bundled out for 118, as the two Afghan spinners shared five wickets in their Indian Premier League contest here on Friday. RR’s decision to bat after winning the toss backfired as their batting crumbled against Rashid, who returned 4-0-14-3 to spark a collapse, and Noor, who registered 3-0-25-2. In reply, Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha played sensibly to help GT get a solid start. Gill (36) got out when the score was 71 and it was easy for the visitors from there on. Captain Hardik Pandya wasted no time and cleared the ropes three times to score 15-ball 39. Saha finished with 34-ball 41 as GT won by nine wickets and 37 balls to spare. With this victory, GT bolstered their lead by three points.
Brief scores: RR 118 in 17.5 overs (Samson 30; Rashid 3/14, Noor 2/25) lost to GT 119/1 in 13.5 ovs (Saha 41 n.o, Hardik 39 n.o)
