In the Vivo Indian Premier League IPL 2018 final, MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) take on Kane Williamson’s Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Nerves will play a big role as Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad look to outdo each other and regain the coveted IPL crown when they square off in what promises to be a humdinger of a summit clash. These two southern rivals last met in Qualifier 1 on May 22, in which CSK, champions in 2010 and 2011, just managed to emerge victorious in a low-scoring thriller, after crumbling in the middle overs during the run chase. SRH prevailed over Kolkata Knight Riders with a margin of just 14 runs at Eden Gardens in Qualifier 2 to seal a place in the coveted final.
In the three encounters that the two finalists have had in IPL 2018, Chennai Super Kings won all three matches. The much awaited IPL 2018 final today will typically be a clash between SRH’s bowling and CSK’s batting. With the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan and Siddarth Kaul, Sunrisers Hyderabad boasts of a superb bowling attack whereas the CSK has a star-studded batting line-up consisting of Shane Watson, skipper Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina and others. For Chennai Super Kings, each of these batsman had risen to the occasion whenever they were needed.
CSK have been on a roll ever since they made a comeback to the IPL fold after serving a two-year-ban. They have rarely lost momentum in the current series, with the old guards and new sensations firing in unison. In their final league game at their adopted home ground in Pune, Chennai Super Kings rode on Suresh Raina’s gutsy half century to romp home by five wickets. Later, in the Qualifier-1, a match where most of the CSK batsmen got out cheaply against SRH, opener Faf du Plessis smashed a match-winning half-century to help Chennai reach their seventh IPL final. Ambati Rayudu, the other opener in Chennai’s side, has been the standout performer with 586 runs and also performed well in the middle order. Australian Shane Watson has also been in top form, accumulating 438 runs from 13 matches, while Raina, skipper Dhoni and all-rounder Deepak Chahar have been the backbone of CSK’s middle order.
In the bowling front, former two-time champions Chennai Super Kings will bank on young South African Lungi Ngidi, who has six wickets from 10 games with a decent economy rate of 5.90. With Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo doing their bit on the pace bowling front, CSK will lean on veteran Harbhajan Singh’s spearheading the spin attack with left-armer Ravindra Jadeja in the middle overs.
On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad are mostly bank on their bowling, which has a lot of variety and some of the best names in the business. Afghan spinner Rashid Khan has been brilliant throughout the season, bagging 21 wickets from 16 games. The leggie came up with a sensational figure of 3/19 against KKR in Qualifier 2, apart from a quick-fire cameo of 34 off just 10 balls. Rashid had also troubled Chennai in the first qualifier with figures of 2/11. In the batting front, Orange cap holder in IPL 2018, Kane Williamson has led from the front. The New Zealand skipper, rated as one of the best batters of the current generation, has so far amassed 688 runs in 16 games at an average of 52.92. Williamson has also led admirably on the field.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan has also been good, amassing 471 runs from 15 games and Hyderabad’s opening will mostly rely on him. The middl-order however, looks a bit shaky and needs to find its touch for one last time in IPL 2018 as Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan have failed to live up to expectations. It will also be interesting to see whether Yusuf Pathan gets a chance in the playing 11 in the mega final, as the Baroda right-hander has failed miserably in IPL 2018, with just 215 runs from 15 games.
Overall, it could be another edge-of-the-seat match on a Super Sunday for fans, when the two best teams of IPL 2018 square off one final time.
Playing XI, Probable ::
Chennai Super Kings (CSK): MS Dhoni, Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): Kane Williamson, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddiman Saha or Sreevats Goswami, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan or Manish Pandey, Carlos Braithwaite, Shakib Al Hasan, Sandeep Sharma or Basil Thampi or Khaleel Ahmed, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddharth Kaul
Kane Williamson has batted in IPL 2018 like many would bat in a dream. The SRH captain has amassed 688 runs so far in IPL 2018; he has made 8 half-centuries in 16 visits to the crease. His 81 runs knock against RCB is easily among the finest T20 knocks ever. Williamson brings an element of purity to batting in T20s. In the last game, though, he emerged from his comfort zone and played a few strokes one isn’t accustomed to seeing him play. Among the others that SRH need to fire are Shikhar Dhawan, who has been in excellent form in white-ball cricket, and Alex Hales. The Sunrisers Hyderabad need their most-experienced bowler – Bhuvneshwar Kumar – to strike a rich haul. The last time he visited Kolkata Knights Riders, he collected his best figures of the season – 3 for 26. Rashid Khan is the one other bowler most likely to do plenty of damage with the ball like he did against Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier; even the best batsmen have found it difficult to read the spinner from Afghanistan. The teenage leggie, who has 21 wickets in IPL 2018. While Siddharth Kaul supported Bhuvneshwar Kumar well and get the much-needed wicket for SRH at crucial times
Chennai Super Kings success in IPL 2018 are mostly depended on their robust batting line up. In a crunch situation different players contributing match-winning performances and six different CSK batsmen have been recognised as playing match-winning knocks and have been rewarded with the man of the Match award. The ones most likely to inflict the maximum damage with the bat are Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu. Both Watson and Rayudu, who have season aggregates of 438 and 586 runs respectively, have had two poor outings now and are due for a big score. Suresh Raina has threatened time and again, and contributed important runs, but he has not been able to stamp his authority like his early days in IPL. And then there is MS Dhoni. The CSK captain has had a fabulous season with the bat. He loves the big occasion too. Conditions at the Wankhede Stadium generally have something on offer for all kinds of bowlers. CSK will expect Deepak Chahar and Lungi Ngidi to strike early – just like they did in Qualifier 1 – and allow the likes of Shardul Thakur, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja to control the later portion of the innings.
Head To Head:
Total 9
CSK 7:: 2SRH
On the eve of the high-octane Indian Premier League (IPL) final between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the M.S Dhoni-led yellow brigade have been voted as the strong favourites by a sports fans survey to win their third title at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. According to the survey conducted by Indian Sports Fan, an online largest sports fan community, CSK are the favourites to win the title while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most favourite player with the Wankhede as the most preferred stadium. The fans survey highlighted Dhoni as the most revered player out of the top 12 players with 27.3 per cent votes followed by Virat Kohli with 22 per cent and SRH captain Kane Williamson with 20.11 per cent fan votes. The survey further revealed that Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium as the most preferred stadium with 30 per cent votes followed by Kolkata’s Eden Gardens Stadium with 20.22 per cent votes, as compared to eight other stadiums. The survey targeted 14,000 fans across 10 cities with 4,802 successful respondents.
Stay Tuned.
- “Ankit Vaishnav”
