Delhi: The contest is between the best of talents, one that raises the performances notches higher, and also the heart beats. On paper, there can hardly be two more evenly-matched teams than Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. After all, both possess some of the biggest names in Indian and world cricket, have won 11 matches each this year.
The two teams come face-to-face for the third time this season at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Tuesday in the first Qualifier of the Pepsi Indian Premier League.
The format of the play-offs is such that the top two teams get two bites at the cherry, and losing this game will just mean one extra match against the winner of the next day s Eliminator, between the third-placed Rajasthan Royals and fourthplaced Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, a win will give the weary players four full days for rest, recovery and planning, before Sundays final in Kolkata.
Mumbai need acclimatization more than Chennai, though, having come down from cool Dharamsala, where they lost their final game to Kings XI Punjab. They have beaten Chennai in both their meetings this season, including a thrashing in Mumbai where they dismissed the men in yellow for a season-low 79.
In Mitchell Johnson and Harbhajan Singh, they have two in-form bowlers, while the likes of Lasith Malinga and Pragyan Ojha can always put batsmen in a spot.
Sachin Tendulkar remains a doubt for the game, for though he bowled in the nets on Monday, he didnot bat. “We dont know yet. We will take a call on him tomorrow,” Skipper Rohit Sharma was guarded in his reply to a query about the masters chances of playing.
If Michael Hussey has turned into a run machine with 646 runs this season, Dhoni has performed his finisher role with ease. Chennai, the IPLs most consistent team, have failed to qualify for the final only once – in the second edition in South Africa in 2009. Dwayne Bravo can make the ball talk and has given Super Kings crucial breakthroughs. With 25 wickets, he is one of the leading contenders for purple cap.
Most of their key players have big- match experience that could prove crucial at this stage. Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina have been in good form, and even though skipper Mahendra Singh Dhonis calm temperament and class will make beating CSK a really tough task on what is expected to be a typical slow-and-low Kotla wicket. But if anyone can, it is Mumbai.
