A battle of wits await the Fab Four
Chennai have made play-offs every time they have played
Asix-week long contest, which commenced on April 7, has finally produced the four teams for the play-off in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Like in the previous years, there have been surprise packages with star-studded favourites crashing out and teams that faced huge setbacks to start with holding on to reach the last four.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, which topped the league table with a creditable nine victories from 14 matches, had lost their captain and star batsman David Warner, who got banned due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town Test between South Africa and Australia in March before the start. Rajasthan Royals too lost their captain Steve Smith in the same row — forcing them to appoint Ajinkya Rahane, who had little experience as a captain in this format, at the helm. They pulled off seven victories from 14 matches.
As much as it was a testing time for Hyderabad and Rajasthan, so was it for Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. There were doubts if Dinesh Karthik, who was succeeding Gautam Gambhir who had brought two titles to this team in the past, can step into his shoes.
Kolkata were so inconsistent at one stage that they reached a stage of having to win their three matches on the trot to avoid elimination. Yet, they pulled off victories with Karthik showing the way with some brilliant finishes, backed by West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa.
Like Rajasthan, Chennai too was staging a comeback into the tournament after serving their two-year ban from IPL for illegal betting. Chennai was even forced out of their home ground due to the Cauvery river protest but their legendary skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni inspired confidence in everyone — showing the way through his batting form. The consistency of Chennai, barring a few hiccups, was a result of the yellow shirts managing to retain a chunk of players of the core group which had helped the team make the last four of all the nine editions they have played so far.
Inspiring performers
All the four teams’ captains who are left standing were inspiring performers. Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson stood out by scoring 661 runs. The first qualifier clash in Mumbai on Tuesday between Chennai and Hyderabad will put to test the strength of both teams in all departments of the game. While Hyderabad has a successful strike bowler in Siddharth Kaul with 17 wickets, Chennai has Shardul Thakur with 14 wickets. Chennai is also blessed with the form of Ambati Rayudu, who already has 586 runs in the bag.
The elimination battle the day after (May 23) between hosts Kolkata and Rajasthan will be a battle of nerves. Kolkata have the home advantage but Rajasthan have lifted their game under pressure. Their win over star-studded Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore in their final league game is an example, though they will lack that depth with star performer Jos Buttler and all-rounder Ben Stokes returning to England for the Pakistan series. Kolkata, two-time champions, have learnt a lot from their bumpy ride so far and showed they can turn the tables on any opponent on their day.
Kolkata were so inconsistent at one stage that they had to win their last three matches on the trot to avoid elimination
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of Chennai Super Kings, credited the team’s dynamics for maintaining an awesome record in the IPL where they made play-offs of all nine editions they have played so far.
“We have a set of people who are very close to the players that makes it very easy for the captain. Also we have a really good team. Right from the first edition, we kept adding players and they kept performing — Ashwin, Bollinger, Mohit. The big challenge will be in two years when most of the players won’t be around. We like to do the process right because that’s what gives you the result,” Dhoni said.
“I remember the finals, where it went wrong: you need to remember where it went wrong. On that particular day you have to be at the best because everyone wants to win. All of those things matter,” he said.
In their final league stage match, CSK beat the Kings XI Punjab by five wickets after they chased down a target of 154. Dhoni, who sent Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar up the order in a surprise move, said it was to throw the opposition off guard.
“If you see the bowling lineup, it was swinging a bit. In a game like this you want to take a lot of wickets while it is swinging. So with Bhajji and Chahar going in — it creates a bit of chaos. With proper batsmen the bowlers are consistent, somehow to lower order players they try the bouncers, off-cutters etc,” Dhoni explained.
Ashwin disappointed
Meanwhile, losing captain and former teammate of Dhoni at CSK, Ravichandran Ashwin was understandably disappointed with his team’s performance and said that KXIP were about 30 runs short of the par score in Pune.
“Few tough days at the office now. We didn’t bat well, we lost too many wickets early. Karun batted well but we were 20-30 below par. We put down a catch — that’s been our story,” Ashwin said.
Actress Preity Zinta, coowner of Punjab team, apologised on behalf of her team for “not being up to the mark” and losing to Chennai Super Kings.
Reacting to the loss, Preity said in a tweet: “Who would have thought that after winning five out of six games in the beginning, Kings XI Punjab would have ended the IPL on this note.”
“I am sorry to all our fans and supporters for not being up to the mark this season. Next year we won’t let you down. Disappointed,” she added.
The Punjab side, under new skipper Ashwin, managed to win six out of their 14 league games to end their campaign at the penultimate spot in the IPL tally with 12 points.