With the hits getting bigger in the climactic stages, IPL-V is hotting up. The recent thrillers in the competition were loaded with drama and action. And the protagonists went through emotions of various hues.
Simply put, there has been mayhem in the middle.
Chennai Super Kings, powered by Albie Morkel, nailed a humdinger against Royal Challengers Bangalore. CSK, then, ran into a roadblock in the form of Warriors in Pune. Pune Warriors finished at the wrong end of a gut-wrenching duel at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday. After the heart-break at the death when Aashish Nehra delivered a length ball to RCB's Sourabh Tiwary and saw it disappear over the ropes, Ganguly and his men will take on CSK at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.
Morkel, however, will be missing from the CSK line-up. The influential cricketer has flown back to South Africa following the death of a friend.
The paths of the sides and their fortunes often criss-cross in a long drawn tournament of this nature. Once again Ganguly will be face to face with Dhoni.
Engaging captains
Both are engaging captains who can lift their team's morale. Ganguly is more expressive, has tactical sophistication and comprehends well the flow of the game. Dhoni's on-field persona is a lot quieter and his captaincy is often driven by instinct. He can be inspirational with his willow in the abbreviated forms of the game.
Dispelling rumours of fitness concerns, Dhoni batted in the nets both on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The host has some worries though. Murali Vijay appears low on confidence. The opener has only 31 runs in five matches at 6.20 and his strike rate of 64.58 has deprived CSK of control even when Faf du Plessis cut loose from the other end.
But Faf du Plessis — 171 runs from five innings at 34.30 (strike rate 144.91) — has been impressive with his shots and range of stroke-play.
In bowling, the failure to pick wickets consistently has hurt CSK, which has two wins and three defeats in five matches. The side's lead spinner R. Ashwin has just one wicket in five games. CSK will be without Morkel but Dwayne Bravo can swing games. Ravindra Jadeja, who sports a new hairdo, has begun to pull his weight.
Warriors' paceman Ashoke Dinda has impacted matches too for the Warriors — the side has three wins in five games — but the paceman is an unlikely starter on Wednesday with a side strain.
With his ability to contain and strike, the incisive Dinda has eight wickets in five matches at 13.37.
Warriors could do well to play both spinners, the experienced left-armer Murali Kartik and young leg-spinner Rahul Sharma here.
The side has firepower in batting with Jesse Ryder and Steve Smith striking form. And someone like Robin Uthappa has the ability to clear the ground with ease.
If the surface continues to be batsmen-friendly, the fans could witness a run feast.
0 comments:
Post a Comment