Delhi Capitals can possibly become the most consistent side in the IPL. They have a perfect all-conditions side, which doesn’t get affected by the event moving from the UAE to India at the start of the year and then from India to the UAE mid-tournament.
In 2019, they finished third and lost the second qualifier; in 2020 they were second on the league table and lost the final. Many a thing around them has changed, but they are there at the top of the points table, with practically the same team.
Up against them are Chennai Super Kings, who have made a remarkable comeback after experiencing their worst season. They attacked more than any other side with the bat, which took them to the qualifiers before any other side.
In spite of the three consecutive losses at the end, despite Capitals’ two wins against them in the league stages, Super Kings remain a dominating side.
The team that wins goes straight into the final, the team that loses gets another shot at making the final when it faces the winner of the match between teams placed third and fourth.
Capitals will be happy they are playing in Dubai, a location where they have beaten Super Kings this year, a location where they have won two chasing and lost one defending in a last-ball finish.
What the Head Coach of the two sides said
I think we should be very confident. We have beaten them twice in the league games, but as you know, the playoff games are completely different, and our tournament really starts now –Ricky Ponting, Head Coach of Delhi Capitals.
“If there’s probably any lessons [from three successive defeats], it’s the intent we’ve shown can often create opportunities. I am pretty philosophical, I know you can get beaten up at times in this tournaments, but if you can ride the waves and get close to the end of the tournament, you have a chance, which we have.” – Stephen Fleming, Head coach of Chennai Super Kings.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(wicket-keeper,captain), 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
Delhi Capitals Squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant(wicket-keeper,captain), Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer, Ripal Patel, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Anrich Nortje, Vishnu Vinod, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lalit Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Ben Dwarshuis, Tom Curran, Lukman Meriwala, Marcus Stoinis, Sam Billings, Steven Smith, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma
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