IPL 6: Match 42 - PWI vs CSK - Match Preview

Match 42 of the Pepsi IPL will feature two teams with contrasting fortunes in the tournament so far this season. Pune Warriors India are languishing at the bottom of the points table. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings have so far been the team to beat; while they have not run away with the league, they have been doing just enough to get over the line against their opponents and find themselves sitting comfortably at the top after nine games. Coming into this match, Warriors have lost their last four matches, while Super Kings are in red hot form with five wins in a row. On paper, this is possibly as one sided as it gets in the IPL. But here’s the twist, the previous match Super Kings lost this season was against this very team – Pune Warriors (no wonder why cricket is called game of glorious uncertainties). That shock loss came at Chennai’s home at MA Chidambaram stadium, and to the surprise of many, the game wasn’t even close, with Warriors winning by 24 runs.

Since then, the world has completely changed for MS Dhoni and his men and Super Kings have been relentless to say the least. They have won the games which seemed they had no right to win it; their strategy of leaving the chase as late as possible has often been deemed as plain stupidity, only for someone to rise from from the shadows and take them home. They seem to have a hero for every occasion; at Eden Gardens it was Ravindra Jadeja; against Rajasthan Royals, when it seemed James Faulkner’s heroics will get RR over the line, Dwayne Bravo had other plans as he got a six away when they needed 10 off 4 balls; and then there was MS Dhoni’s inevitable late flourish against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

On the other hand, for Warriors, their story has been on similar lines as CSK but the only difference is that unlike their opponents tonight, they have chocked every time and ended up on the losing side. In most of their matches, they have looked in control of the game, but somehow ended up on the losing side. Chasing a paltry target of 120 against Sunrisers, they were cruising at 101 for 4 after 16 overs and ended up at 108 all out. They were not able to defend 185 against Kings XI Punjab – in the last over they had 16 runs to defend. On Sunday, their chase was going smoothly, but they somehow managed to finish 15 runs short in a chase of 165 despite losing only four wickets.

Though there was shoddy umpiring but that’s been the case for all the teams this season. You can moan about umpiring as long as you want but the bottom line is that Pune Warriors have four points from nine games. While it is difficult to judge how different permutations pan out, it is almost certain that Warriors will have to win all their remaining seven matches to progress to the playoffs. On the optimistic note, their fate is still in their hands.

Conditions:

So far there have been three matches played at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (also known as Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium). One gets the impression from the results so far that pitch has not been a batting beauty like Wankhede, Chepauk or M. Chinnaswamy stadium. The team winning the toss would like to bat first but the dilemma for CSK is they like chasing, so it will be interesting to see what MS Dhoni does at the toss. Will he put his team out of their comfort zone by asking them to bat first? Especially when CSK prefers chasing; it would be a risk on this wicket.

Head to Head:

In the five matches played between these two franchises, Chennai Super Kings lead Pune Warriors India 3-2. When the teams met earlier in the season at Chennai, PWI caused a huge upset as they scored 159 and then went on to restrict the mighty hosts to just 135 to win by 24 runs.

Key Players for PWI:

Aaron Finch: The hard hitting Victorian opener has been a revelation for Pune this season; he has so far scored 266 runs in 7 innings at the impressive strike-rate of 131.68.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: The Indian opening bowler has been a miser so far this season with an economy-rate of 6.37 with 8 wickets in 9 innings. He has held his own, especially when his team-mates have been hammered all over the park this season. He will be a vital cog in the Pune bowling to stop Chennai’s superstars.

Key players for CSK:

Michael Hussey: What a revelation this guy has been, and how desperate Australia would be to have him back! With 445 runs in 8 matches, he is breathing down Chris Gayle’s neck for the Orange Cap. If Hussey continuous his form, then CSK would be unstoppable in this tournament.

Chris Morris: Chris Morris has been a go to man for MS Dhoni this season so far. He has bowled at all the possible phases in the matches so far and more often than not, has proven his captain right. If he is on fire then Pune will find CSK too hot to handle.

Probable XI:

PWI: Aaron Finch(c), Robin Uthappa(wk), Yuvraj Singh, Luke Wright, Steve Smith, Mithun Manhas, Abhishek Nayar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Rahul Sharma, Kane Richardson.

CSK: Michael Hussey, Wriddhiman Saha, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(c)(wk), Ravindra Jadeja, S Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Morris, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohit Sharma, Albie Morkel.