In-form Virat Kohli’s RCB take on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s CSK in IPL knockout

Fans take a photo of RCB captain Virat Kohli on his arrival at the Birsa Munda International Airport, in Ranchi on Thursday. (Source: PTI)

At 4.30pm on Thursday, the JSCA International Stadium wore almost a deserted look. A handful of armed police were present in front of the stadium entrance. Inside, ground staff were vigorously tending to the pitch and the adjoining strips. Some kids in a playful mood were making merry on the grass banks. Chennai Super Kings were scheduled to practice an hour later and their kits arrived in a truck. A little weird, for cricket gears usually come with players in the team bus. Overall, the buzz for an IPL play-off seemed to be missing. Appearances, however, can be deceiving.

A mini-battle

Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore will play Qualifier 2 before a sold-out crowd on Friday. But there’s a mini-battle that will be keenly watched in the clash between two heavyweight teams. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli are facing off as rival captains for the first time in a knockout game. Forget a 4-2 head-to-head record in favour of the former in the IPL. This is a new game and the winners will reach the title round.

Dhoni has had a proven method for success. It has helped him win everything that the game has to offer. But he’s at the back end of his career, having already retired from Tests. Kohli has assumed Test captaincy and will eventually take over the reins in the shorter format. Dhoni believes in taking the pace off the ball. Kohli backs his fast bowlers. Dwayne Bravo is Chennai’s highest wicket-taker with 23 scalps. In fact, he’s the holder of the ‘Purple Cap’. But he has bowled in the latter half of the innings and deceived the batters with cutters and slower deliveries. Chennai also feel comfortable going in with three spinners. Together, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi have taken 26 wickets.

Bangalore, on the other hand, played almost every game with four fast bowlers. Mitchell Starc is the destroyer-in-chief with 19 wickets from 12 matches. But young Indian seamer Harshal Patel and South African medium pacer David Wiese, too, have bowled well, taking 16 and 15 wickets, respectively. Even left-arm pacer Sreenath Aravind has picked up seven wickets after arriving late.

Attack upfront has allowed Bangalore’s only spinner of substance, Yuzvendra Chahal, stick to his natural style and bowl fearlessly. The young leggie has made quite an impression with 21 wickets. Kohli has always looked for wickets instead of choking the opposition, and it has made Bangalore pretty attractive to watch.

By no means, this is an effort to strike a comparison between India’s most successful captain and a relatively newcomer to the job. Also, as Chennai coach Stephen Fleming said on the match-eve, T20 is not a format to judge the captains.

“Haven’t seen much of Kohli (as captain). But Dhoni is calmer and calculative. Kohli is emotional… Captains make mark in longer formats, and not much in the shorter format,” said Fleming. For the captains to be successful, batting needs to click. Bangalore have their biggest X-factor in AB de Villiers. With Chris Gayle and Kohli batting ahead of him, it’s an awesome top order.

Chennai have lost their biggest match-winner following Brendon McCullum’s departure to England. Michael Hussey is simply not working as a replacement. Baba Aparajith had a long stint in the nets on Thursday but it’s unlikely that Chennai will make a change.

The team is also missing Dhoni the finisher. The marauder has been tamed. It was a little surprising that he didn’t practise today. According to team sources, the skipper decided to sit out of the optional training session. Not a big deal though, for this man has taken his team to the IPL finals five times in the last seven editions, winning it twice.

Also, Chennai had an extra day off after Qualifier 1. The pitch is brown, much to Dhoni’s likings. He will try to make the advantage count.

Source:: Indian Express