Saturday 28 May 2011

second time eye on tittle of ipl:csk

Chennai: Defending champions
Chennai Super Kings will be
banking on home advantage
when they take on a formidable
Royal Challengers Bangalore in
the Indian Premier League final
on Saturday.
Chennai, led by India's World Cup
winning captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni, have won all of their
seven league games at home this
season and have lost just once in
12 matches over two editions.
Conditions at the Chidambaram
stadium suit Chennai perfectly,
leading to speculation that the
low and slow wicket has been
specially prepared for the home
side.
The Chennai franchise is owned
by N. Srinivasan, secretary and
president-elect of the powerful
Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI), which owns and
runs the IPL.
Chennai coach Stephen Fleming
however believes that
irrespective of the home
advantage, his side will have to
slug it out against a determined
opposition.
"What we have picked is a side
for these conditions, and we are
very proud that we were smart
enough to pick a side that would
compete well at home," said the
former New Zealand captain.
"We certainly don't take our
home advantage for granted. We
are going to have to work
equally as hard because the team
we will play in the final know
they have got to play well to beat
us at home.
"We have played some good
cricket here. So if you wanted to
play the final, it'd certainly be
here for us."
For Chennai, the biggest threat
comes from Chris Gayle, the West
Indies opener who has been on
a roll ever since being snapped
up by Bangalore as a
replacement for the injured Dirk
Nannes.
The muscular left-hander has
scored 608 runs from just 11
innings to emerge as the highest
run-getter in the Twenty20
competition ahead of the likes of
Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians
skipper, was all praise for Gayle
who slaughtered his bowlers
during a whirlwind 89-run knock
off 47 balls on Friday to carry
Bangalore into the final.
"All credit to Gayle for the way he
batted," Tendulkar said after
Mumbai crashed to a 43-run
defeat to Bangalore to bow out
of the tournament. "The way
Gayle started, that set the tone
for them."
Bangalore captain Daniel Vettori
hoped Gayle would repeat his
magic once again and help the
side bag their maiden IPL title
after ending up as losing finalists
in the 2009 edition.
"It’s certainly not easy to bowl to
Gayle, he has been a great asset
for us," said the Kiwi left-arm
spinner. "Conditions are going to
suit the Chennai Super Kings in
the final but we are up for it."
The final will draw curtains on a
tournament that began on April
8, just five days after the World
Cup, spanning over seven weeks
and 74 matches.

Popular Posts