Published: May 10, 2019, 10:21 AM (IST)
Edited: May 10, 2019, 10:21 AM (IST)
One match remains before the IPL 2019 final, and vying for the chance to take on Mumbai Indians on Sunday are defending champions Chennai Super Kings and title hopefuls Delhi Capitals in today’s Qualifier 2 match at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
Delhi Capitals, led by Shreyas Iyer, stormed into the IPL playoffs for the first time in six seasons and on Wednesday beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets in the Eliminator to meet CSK, who lost to Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 on Monday.
That win was the first by a Delhi franchise (earlier they were Delhi Daredevils) in the IPL playoffs, and now they face the wounded CSK.
After topping the league table for most of the season, CSK slipped to second place at the end of the league stage and then lost badly to MI in Qualifier 1. What will MS Dhoni and his men come up with today?
CSK won both their matches against DC this season.
(VIDEO: Delhi Capitals square off against CSK for a place in maiden final)
Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals possible teams:
CSK likely XI: 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Murali Vijay, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 MS Dhoni (captain/wk), 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Imran Tahir
DC likely XI: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Colin Munro, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Sherfane Rutherford, 8 Ishant Sharma, 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Trent Boult
(READ: We are confident of doing well against CSK: Prithvi Shaw)
DC vs CSK HEAD TO HEAD
Matches played: 20
Won by CSK: 14
Won by DC: 6
STATISTICS
Most runs for DC vs CSK: 233 – Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils)
Most wickets for DC vs CSK: 10 – Ashish Nehra (Delhi Daredevils)
Most runs for CSK vs DC: 520 – MS Dhoni
Most wickets for CSK vs DC: 17 – R Ashwin
(READ: Rishabh Pant is this generation’s Virender Sehwag: Sanjay Manjrekar)
FORM GUIDE (most recent first)
DC: W W L W W
CSK: L L W L W
CSK vs DC PREDICTION
On the same surface as the Eliminator was played, Capitals have the advantage of knowing what exactly to expect. Dhoni’s team has not played in Vizag this season, and after the loss in Qualifier 1 the CSK coach Stephen Fleming hinted at a strategic change for this knockout match.
As good as Capitals have been this season, they are up against an IPL legend in Dhoni and CSK are of course three-time IPL champions. In their biggest match ever, Capitals may get overawed by the weight of expectations. Staying focused – they cannot afford a bungled chase like against SRH – is imperative for DC.
Expect Dhoni to pull something special out of the hat, and for CSK’s spinners to perform better than their opponents.
