Tag: csk vs kkr

  • CSK to win IPL 2021 final, Ravindra Jadeja will be Man of the Match: Michael Vaughan

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Former England skipper Michael Vaughan on Friday predicted that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will win the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and Ravindra Jadeja will be the Man of the Match.

    CSK will square off against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2021 final later on Friday at the Dubai International Stadium. “As all my predictions this year have been spot on .. I think @ChennaiIPL will win the Final today .. Man of the match will be @imjadeja #IPL2021Final,” tweeted Vaughan.

    As all my predictions this year have been spot on .. I think @ChennaiIPL will win the Final today .. Man of the match will be @imjadeja #IPL2021Final
    — Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 15, 2021
    The IPL 2021 has been played in two parts this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after a long wait, the final is finally here. The summit clash will see MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings clash with Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

    MS Dhoni-led CSK has won the IPL title thrice and after putting on a dismal show in the 2020 season in UAE, the side made a remarkable comeback this year and some fearless cricket from the franchise has seen Dhoni’s men reach the finals.

    Dhoni might have managed to score just 114 runs from 15 matches this season, but he rose like a phoenix when the team needed him most and his best knock came in Qualifier 1 against Delhi Capitals. He scored 18 runs from six balls, rolling back time, giving fans a perfect nostalgia trip as the Chennai franchise roared into the final. His innings even got Virat Kohli to label Dhoni as the “greatest finisher ever”.

    Moving to KKR, Eoin Morgan’s side was completely down and out in the India leg as the side had won just two games out of seven. However, travelling to the UAE brought about a change in fortunes.

    Venkatesh Iyer’s inclusion provided the much-needed boost to the batting lineup and the Kolkata-based franchise has been playing fearless cricket. Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, and Rahul Tripathi have done their job too this season.

    Squads: Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood, Suresh Raina, Imran Tahir, Jason Behrendorff, Krishnappa Gowtham, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Hari Nishanth, N Jagadeesan, KM Asif, Harishankar Reddy, Dominic Drakes, Bhagath Varma, Karn Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara.

    Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harbhajan Singh, Tim Southee, Andre Russell, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sheldon Jackson, Sandeep Warrier, Tim Seifert, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vaibhav Arora. (ANI)

  • We’ve got nothing to lose lads and that makes us dangerous: KKR coach Brendon Mccullum

    By ANI

    DUBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum gave the players a motivating speech ahead of the side’s IPL 2021 final against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday.

    KKR had won two games in the IPL 2021 during the first half but the side came back with strong performances in the UAE leg to qualify for the playoffs. The side then defeated Delhi Capitals and RCB to seal the final spot.

    McCullum motivated KKR players ahead of the clash and said the side has nothing to lose which eventually makes them a dangerous team. “Imagine things work out and then in five weeks, we’re standing there with the trophy after two wins in seven games. Imagine that journey. Imagine the stories that you’ll get to tell,” said McCullum in a video posted by KKR on Twitter.

    “Experiences that you got to share. That’s what’s in front of us. That should enthuse us, excite us. We’ve got nothing to lose lads. And that makes us dangerous,” he added.

    MS Dhoni-led CSK has won the IPL title thrice and after putting on a dismal show in the 2020 season in UAE, the side made a remarkable comeback this year and some fearless cricket from the franchise has seen Dhoni’s men reach the finals.

    On the other hand, Morgan’s side was completely down and out in the India leg as the side had won just two games out of seven. However, travelling to the UAE brought about a change in fortunes.

    Venkatesh Iyer’s inclusion provided the much-needed boost to the batting lineup and the Kolkata-based franchise has been playing fearless cricket. Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, and Rahul Tripathi have done their job too this season.

  • Putting the Super in Chennai Kings 

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI: In 2018, the IPL title triumph was almost like mocking everyone who doubted them. Coming into the tournament after a two-year suspension, the Chennai Super Kings got stick for choosing an experienced side. While everyone looked at the average age of the squad and wrote them off after the auctions, Chennai backed the team they assembled. Age factor was something they were asked about each time they faced the press. What was not lost was in all their responses was they accepted that fielding will be an issue with an aging squad. 

    With almost the same aging squad with MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu still forming the nucleus of the side, they are in their third final in four years and ninth overall. It is no easy job. Particularly in a tournament where there is no scarcity of quality. While teams around them had the exuberance of youth and X-factor players, Chennai stuck to backing their process. There is no rocket science involved in that process and it just comes down to keeping the plans simple and easy to execute. 

    In a world where most teams and captains bank on player matchups driven by data analytics, their head coach Stephen Fleming doesn’t believe in it. If a reporter wants to build his story around it, Fleming doesn’t even see merit in it. He prefers to keep it simple by all means. Pick a squad, assign each one their role, back them to execute it. While most teams would have seen players in the wrong side of 30s as a liability on the field, Chennai knew their experience of being in different situations will be more than handy. On the field, they are easy to second-guess. For a captain who preferred bowling a spinner in the powerplay, he seldom uses them. Since the ban finished, Harbhajan Singh in 2019 at Chepauk has been the exception. 

    One drastic change Chennai have brought in 2021 after the low of 2020 has been the attitude in their batting department. The increased depth has allowed them to attack at all times. Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis have strike-rates of 137.35 and 137.09. Moeen Ali, who has mostly batted at No 3, strikes at 133.33. Rayudu, the No 4, has scored at 151.17. Among batters who played at least 10 innings, Dhoni’s strike-rate of 106.54 is the lowest. 

    “We needed to play a faster game, we needed to keep evolving if we were not in Chennai. And that’s what we are trying to do; we are not the finished product by any means, but we’re playing well at the moment,” Fleming had said. Once they identified the brand of cricket they wanted to play, they have stuck to it. That in Moeen they had a batsman who plays spinners well meant Chennai didn’t necessarily have to bank only on Rayudu for big hits in the middle overs. They attacked relentlessly.

    Now they are one win away from rounding off an era where they have been amongst the best T20 teams globally. Not many can match their final appearances and a fourth title would be perfect farewell for a side that has largely remained unchanged over the years. Though Dhoni still aspires to don the yellow as a player next season, it is hard to see him continue beyond this season as a captain. Given that the upcoming auction is a mega one, Chennai would like to identify a core group that would serve for another decade. For 12 seasons, they have been most consistent and Dubai will be a perfect crowning moment for the likes of Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo, the ultimate Super Kings in the format.

    Chennai story After the disappointment of 2020, Chennai Super Kings were expected to struggle as the big auctions were put off. However, the side put aside adverse predictions to be back in the final, a place they have been on eight previous occasions. A look at what made them click in 2021… 

    Top-order solidity7/1, 24/1, 25/1. After the first three games of the season, there must have been a temptation to drop Ruturaj Gaikwad. Scores of 5 (8), 5 (16) and 10 (13) were below par and it meant they were beginning their innings on the backfoot. However, they trusted the data and kept faith. End result? Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis have become synonymous with good starts. In the next 12 games, they have combined for two 100-run stands, four partnerships of over 50 and one over 40. That all of those stands have come in good time meant the middle-order had the license to keep going. 

    Batting depth On the occasions when Gaikwad and Du Plessis have failed, the franchise have relied on their ridiculous batting depth to dig them out of a hole. Consider this — they are yet to lose a chase this season and that’s largely thanks to this depth. It was MS Dhoni against Delhi Capitals in the first qualifier, Ambati Rayudu against Sunrisers Hyderabad a week before that and Ravindra Jadeja against Kolkata Knight Riders three weeks ago. They are yet to be bowled out and have lost eight wickets or more only twice across 15 matches.    

    All-round bowling performanceThe franchise doesn’t have a single individual among the top seven in the wicket-takers’ list. But, that kind of masks what their bowling line-up is all about. There isn’t one single superstar but a support cast that compliments all the other bowlers. Shardul Thakur (18 wickets), Dwayne Bravo (13), Deepak Chahar (13), Ravindra Jadeja (11), Sam Curran and Josh Hazlewood (9 each) and Moeen Ali (6) have all chipped in. Between them, they have different variations, new-ball wicket takers, controlling spinners and death over specialists.  

    05 There are five Chennai batsmen with a strike rate of above 133 among the top 20 (a league high, minimum 10 games)
    603 No of runs scored by Gaikwad, 23 behind Orange Cap holder KL Rahul 

  • IPL final turns into Dhoni vs Morgan tactical showdown

    By AFP

    DUBAI: The Indian Premier League final on Friday will be a clash between two of cricket’s finest tacticians when M.S. Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings take on Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders.

    Between them they have won every major title on offer.

    Morgan led Englad to victory in the 2019 50-over World Cup. Dhoni masterminded India’s wins. He was India’s captain when they won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and the 2011 50-over title.

    Neither has been a big run scorer in this year’s pandemic-hit tournament, which forced it to be moved to the United Arab Emirates.

    But Dhoni’s Chennai, three-time champions, have been the team to beat this year, the first to make the playoffs.

    The 40-year-old, who will be a mentor for India at the T20 World Cup starting Sunday, has been his usual unflappable self as the tension mounts.

    “Purely from the captaincy point of view who can handle the pressure best, probably has to be Dhoni,” admitted Gautam Gambhir, the former India batsman who led Kolkata to their two previous IPL triumphs.

    Morgan’s Kolkata resumed the tournament seventh out of the eight teams, but went on to win five out of seven games to reach the playoffs.

    – ‘Very clever’ Morgan –

    They knocked out Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore in the eliminator and then Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier on Wednesday to reach the final.

    Kolkata advisor David Hussey, the former Australian international, said Morgan has made a huge impact on the team’s results, aided by the break during the IPL’s suspension when a coronavirus surge hit India in April.

    “I truly believe that Morgan is captaining really well, he’s marshalling the troops, he’s tactically very clever. The bowling changes have been spot on. I think that’s contributed to our success this time around,” Hussey said after the win over Delhi.

    Morgan made smart bowling choices on the slow UAE pitches with West Indies mystery spinner Sunil Narine as the attack kingpin.

    Opener Venkatesh Iyer has emerged as an unlikely batting hero, while Morgan has scored just 129 runs in 16 games.

    The left-handed Iyer, who made his debut for Kolkata in the UAE leg, smashed 55 in Wednesday’s game in a big partnership with fellow opener Shubman Gill.

    Hussey hailed Iyer as “a class player”.

    “He is tall, a Stephen Fleming clone I believe. He has got a big future in the game.”

    Kolkata may be forced to leave Shakib Al Hasan out of the team and bring back Andre Russell, who is recovering from a hamstring injury. Bangladesh want to keep Shakib fresh for the T20 World Cup that starts in the UAE after the IPL.

    Ruturaj Gaikwad and South African veteran Faf du Plessis have led Chennai’s batting while Dhoni showed just a flash of his past brilliance when he made 18 off six balls, including three fours, as Chennai beat Delhi to reach the final for the ninth time.

    Chennai are still smarting from their failure to reach the playoffs last season. But Dhoni says key players made use of their time to improve their performances. 

    “That is the reason why we have come back strongly this season,” said the legendary Indian.

    Morgan knows he faces a classic battle in Dubai but knows the IPL can throw up surprises.

    “We would like to keep going, playing against CSK, one of the best franchises in IPL history. Anything can happen,” said the England leader.

  • IPL 2021: Knew Prasidh would opt for slower ball or wide yorker in penultimate over, says Jadeja

    By ANI

    ABU DHABI: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has said that he knew pacer Prasidh Krishna would opt for a slower delivery or wide yorker in the penultimate over of the Indian Premier League (IPL) match.

    Ravindra Jadeja single-handedly took the game away from Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League encounter at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday as he scored 22 runs off the 19th over as Prasidh Krishna looked on haplessly. The two-wicket win saw CSK return to the top of the table.

    “Pressure was there. We are playing T20 cricket after a long time and the situation was a tough one, I just thought about backing my game and if the ball is there in my areas, I will go for it. Only one run came in the first two balls, but I knew that Prasidh would go for a slower one or wide yorker looking at the field. I just backed my strengths and went for it,” Jadeja told teammate Shardul Thakur in a video posted on iplt20.com.

    “I just told Deepak Chahar that as a right-handed batsman, Sunil Narine would bowl a leg-spin delivery, hopefully, he connected and we were able to win the match,” he added.

    Earlier, Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana scored 45 and 37 respectively as KKR posted 171/6 in the allotted twenty overs. Eoin Morgan’s side was struggling at one stage but Dinesh Karthik’s cameo of 26 runs of 11 balls helped KKR go past the 170-run mark.

    CSK will next lock horns with SunRisers Hyderabad on Thursday in the IPL.