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On Sunday, the table-toppers DC will be facing up against the three-time Premier League winners CSK in an exciting battle to book the place in the tournament finale.
Despite defeat in their last league encounter versus the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Capitals will be heading into another Dubai face-off, with CSK feeling greatly confident, having enjoyed a fantastic overall campaign. Rishabh Pant and company secured their playoff spot with as many as ten victories in fourteen games and with most of their departments functioning efficiently.
For the Super Kings, losses in their previous three games may be a cause of worry, but they’ll be mindful of their overall great resurgence after last year’s disastrous first-round exit. MS Dhoni’s men ended the league stage positioned second after winning nine of their fourteen games, a far cry from the six wins they finished with in the previous campaign.
But defeats in their respective last matches have certainly added a different layer to the riveting contest ahead.
Key Players
Faf du Plessis has been one of CSK’s saviours with the bat as he has not let oppositions get on top of CSK’s softer belly – their struggling middle-order – with his consistent performances at the top of the order. The South African is his team’s top run-getter for IPL 2021 with 546 runs at an average of 45.50 and a strike-rate of 137.53. It shows Du Plessis’ form and class that the day the rest of the CSK batting unit failed to put up a fight against PBKS, he rose to the occasion with a solid knock of 76.
Ruturaj Gaikwad – Du Plessis’ opening partner – is another of CSK’s in-form batters. Gaikwad has owned the UAE leg of the IPL 2021. In a breakthrough string of seven games, the Maharashtra and India right-hander has taken his game and tournament tally to another level. Gaikwad now has 533 runs – next only in the run-charts to Du Plessis – from his 14 innings at an average of 44.01 and strike-rate of 137.01. CSK will depend on the young gun once again as they look to seal one spot in the final.
Ravindra Jadeja has slipped under the radar somewhat. But to say that he has been pivotal to CSK’s run to the Qualifier 1 wouldn’t at all be wrong. Jadeja, the spin all-rounder, has been the absolute key to some of CSK’s important wins in both the Indian and UAE leg of the competition. Jadeja has a batting average of 75.66 and strike-rate of 145.51 despite doing the difficult aggressor’s job in the lower middle-order. The miserly left-arm spinner has backed his batting exploits with fantastic numbers as a bowler, taking 10 wickets with an economy rate of just 6.80.
Shikhar Dhawan may not have had the most fruitful UAE leg of the tournament, but it shows the work that he put in during the first half in India that he is still DC’s top run-scorer with 544 runs at a strike-rate of 128. Despite not being able to post a substantial score in the last few matches, Dhawan has never really looked out of form. The left-hander will be hoping to overcome this blip and play another of his important knocks for the team.
Shimron Hetmyer has adjusted seamlessly to the role of a lower middle-order aggressor for DC. Hetmyer has performed the difficult job very competently for his team and has provided the important finishing touches to their innings.
The aggressive left-hander has struck only 188 runs, but those have come at an outstanding strike-rate of 170.90 while averaging a very respectable 37.60. Hetmyer’s presence helps DC lengthen their batting, which also gives assurance to batters above him that they can comfortably play their role without worrying about the rate of scoring too much.
Axar Patel has been exceptional with the ball for DC. The ever accurate and disciplined left-arm spinner has been key to his team’s success right through the season. Axar has taken 15 wickets from his 10 games of the tournament with an economy rate of just 6.43. It shows Axar’s value and importance that the day he proved expensive against RCB in Dubai, DC couldn’t stall the game enough through the middle phase, and the run-chase never went out of the opposition’s hands.
Prediction
The Super Kings will be slightly pleased with the Challengers’ last-ball finish and win over DC on the final day of the league stage as it adds at least some jittery into the opposition camp.
How quickly DC recovers from the game that they should’ve closed out will be important for them and CSK, who do look the lesser of the two sides purely on overall talent depth and form. DC proved this very well through the league stage where they defeated CSK in both of their matches in Mumbai and Dubai.
While anything can happen on a given day, what gives DC a definite edge is that they have three tall quicks to exploit the track in Dubai against CSK’s uncertain batting unit.
It is something PBKS’ pacers also did to Dhoni’s team as it required only a small covering of grass and a hint of seam movement to open up an end at the top and expose their middle-order. DC will definitely look to replicate that.
Even if there is no help for the seamers, DC have shown they can defeat CSK on a different and slightly sluggish sort of surface in Dubai as well.
With them being the stronger looking side, it is safe to predict a DC win in Qualifier 1.
