IPL 2021: CSK vs DC: The fourteenth installment of the glitzy Indian Premier League which has been a mass entertainer for all these years began on Friday. After the inaugural match, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals will face each other in the Wankhede Stadium, on Saturday. The clash between these two big hitters of the game will have their respective fans glued to the television sets. The game played behind closed doors will require the fans to extend their end of support from home. The biggest twenty-over league in India which seldom disappoints will hopefully live up to the billing on Saturday.
CSK vs DC Match Preview
The Wankhede is set to host Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals on Saturday; both of whom are title contenders this season. The Wankhede Stadium has a fairly good batting pitch and averages a 170-run haul for the teams batting first. The toss factor would not be that important although the teams have preferred chasing a total to defending it. A side with a strong and reliable bowling lineup can decide to make a substantial total and defend it, a strategy that could be favorable for a team like Delhi Capitals. With an equidistant boundary length of 70 meters all throughout the ground; going for a big hit will be uniformly easy or difficult at either end.
Chennai Super Kings Team News
The cricket franchise from Tamil Nadu which has ruled IPL for years is once again headed by the former Indian cricket captain, MS Dhoni. Chennai Super Kings(CSK) has been a serial winner in this competition. They have lifted the trophy thrice thus becoming the second team in IPL to do so.
Although Chennai’s performances have dropped since last year, Dhoni and his company will look for redemption this year with their rejuvenated team. The spirit and morale of the team were quite low in IPL 2020 as they finished 7th on the table. CSK has spent a lot of money on the IPL 2021 Auctions. The Indian all-rounder K Gowtham and Englishman Moeen Ali are some of the newest additions to the squad. Cheteshwar Pujara will be seen in the yellow outfit this season as well. Chennai has freshened up their squad in comparison to last year. It would be interesting to see if Dhoni and his company soar high this year or falter again.
Chennai Super Kings Squad– Shardul Thakur, M.Harisankar Reddy, Narayan Jagadeesabn. MS Dhoni (Captain), Sam Curran, Suresh Raina, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Mitchell Santner, K. Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishaanth, R Sai Kishore Dwayne Bravo, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Ambati Rayudu. Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara.
Delhi Capitals Team News
Delhi Capitals who will be without their captain Shreyas Iyer have selected Rishabh Pant to lead the team this year. Shreyas will be out with a dislocated shoulder injury and is set to miss this year’s IPL. Delhi Capitals have been a game-changing side since 2019, and their opposition dare not go soft on them. They have been a confident team that has made quite a mark. Capitals have been title contenders and got into the qualifiers for two consecutive years and into the finals last year; hopefully, they would look forward to performing in the same style. In IPL 2020 Delhi finished runners-up, their most successful campaign in 13 years of IPL.
With a wide variety of batting and bowling line-up, Capitals have the liberty to experiment with their playing eleven.
Delhi Capitals Squad– Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Anrich Nortje, Ajinkya Rahane, Lalit Yadav. Avesh Khan, Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes, M Siddarth, Pravin Dubey, Tom Curran. Sam Billings Marcus Stoinis, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma. Steve Smith, Lukman Meriwala Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod.
CSK vs DC – Statistics
Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals have gone head to head with each other 23 times, out of which Kings have been the better side and have maintained a formidable lead with 15 wins, the most in this duel. Chennai’s highest team total against Delhi was in the second qualifier match in 2012, where the Kings scored a total of 222 runs to beat Delhi.
In 2018 when the Capitals were chasing a total of 211 they managed to close the gap by 198 runs; only to fall short by 13 runs in the end. Delhi lost the fixture registering their highest runs scored against the mighty Chennai. Rishabh Pant thrashed 7 boundaries and 4 sixes scoring 78 off 45 bowls. The highest individual score in this fixture is a whopping 113 runs by Murali Vijay(CSK).
Conclusion
This interesting fixture out on the field will see quite some great knocks from either of the two teams. Although statistics speak differently, the odds are in favor of the Delhi Capitals
