Chennai Super Kings is not an opponent any team relishes a faceoff against in the Indian Premier League. Like a giant wrecking ball, the side continues to demolish rivals, and is poised to strike Mumbai Indians next.
Super Kings had successfully defended a low score in its nail-biting opener this season, and then won its second match by a comfortable margin.
CSK had a different match-winner in each instance — the wily Ashish Nehra in the first match and the destructive Brendan McCullum in the second. The ex-India bowler made an impact with his subtle skills against Delhi Daredevils keeping batsmen guessing while it was with strong-arm methods that the Kiwi opener blew away Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Coach Stephen Fleming credits the players for seizing the moment. “The players perform out there. We can create an environment for them to compete,” he said, to a query about the team management’s skills in getting players to deliver.
“T20 is a fickle format. There will be moments when you are up and when you are down. It’s a cycle which keeps repeating. We keep faith in the players even when they are in the down cycle.”
Nehra was handed a lifeline by CSK last season when questions were being raised about his utility in the T20 format, and he is repaying the confidence using his extensive experience. The left-arm pacer started his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2008, where he surprised batsmen with the slow bouncer. He then had stints with Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors before Super Kings bought him, and this is where he has delivered his best.
Mumbai Indians will be watching and trying to anticipate what Super Kings will come up with. But the latter have so many arrows in the quiver that it is almost impossible to plan counter-measures.
Fleming and skipper M.S. Dhoni keep shuffling their cards so much that the opponents hardly ever know what to expect. After two wins at home, Friday’s match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium, on a track difficult on batsmen due to the two-paced nature of the wicket, will be Super Kings’ first away match.
For the home team, the nature of the surface is the least of its worries. A misfiring Lasith Malinga being the prime example, the specialists in the MI line-up are under-performing.
Injuries to opener Aaron Finch and all-rounder Harbhajan Singh — the latter is recovering from a neck strain — leaves the team management debating between pushing new faces into battle, like left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith, or retaining tried and tested names like Malinga, shotmaker Ambati Rayudu and spinner Pragyan Ojha.
Losing is becoming a worrying habit, and MI will try to shake it off.
Teams (from):
Chennai Super Kings: M S Dhoni (Capt), Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Francois du Plessis, Ishwar Pandey, Matt Henry, Mithun Manhas, Mohit Sharma, Pawan Negi, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Samuel Badree, Suresh Raina, Ronit More, Michael Hussey, Rahul Sharma, Kyle Abbott, Ankush Bains, Irfan Pathan, Pratyush Singh, Andrew Tye and Eklavya Dwivedi.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Aaron Finch, Ambati Rayudu, Abhimanyu Mithun, Aditya Tare, Parthiv Patel, Kieron Pollard, Corey Anderson, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Pragyan Ojha, Mitchell McClenaghan, Aiden Blizzard, Akshay Wakhare, Nitish Rana, Sidhesh Lad, Hardik Pandya, Jagadeesha Suchith, Unmukt Chand and R Vinay Kumar.
Match starts at 8:00 pm IST.
Chennai Super Kings
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