CHENNAI: For the first time this season, Chennai Super Kings will be under pressure at home when they take on Delhi Capitals on Saturday afternoon.
Having lost their previous two games, the hosts' think tank would have been burning the midnight oil to try and arrest the slide. The biggest concern for them would be the fitness of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. He got hit in the right forearm by Tushar Deshpande in the previous game against Rajasthan Royals. CSK batting coach Mike Hussey said that they would take a call on his inclusion after the training session on Friday. "Yeah, we're hoping. He's (Ruturaj) going to try and have a bat. It's still a little bit sore, but it's improving every day. So we're very hopeful, very confident that he'll be fine for Saturday. If not, we have some young guy (MS Dhoni) coming up, he's doing really well behind the stumps," said Hussey.
An hour or so after Hussey's proclamation, Gaikwad did come out but didn't have an elaborate session. He shadow-batted for a few minutes and took a couple of throwdowns but didn't once go inside the nets.
Should he not play and Dhoni take his place, it will be the first time the former captain will lead the side since the 2023 final in Ahmedabad.
Meanwhile, Delhi come into the match with players like Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs and Jake Fraser-McGurk providing firepower. The sub plot is the mind games that Delhi will be keen to play with their coach Hemang Badani who hails from Chennai. Badani has won a couple international leagues and is a successful coach at the TNCA's TNPL league.
However L Balaji, former bowling coach of CSK, who has played with both Fleming and Badani in white-ball cricket, downplayed the mind games. "CSK think tank is very experienced, they know the process," the former India international said. "They have the experience to make amends and get back to winning ways. Badani has also done well as a coach, but I don't think Delhi has an edge as far as mind games go."
Both teams will like to use their trump card on the opposition. Kuldeep Yadav will be the main weapon for the visitors, while Noor Ahmad will be the go to man for the hosts.
But Kuldeep tried to underplay the role of the 'chinaman' spinners and insisted that it was a challenge to bowl to the CSK batters.
"In this format you see a lot of chinaman spinners in other teams as well," he said. So, it has become a trend now, playing with a wrist spinner. Yeah, you have to stay relevant in every game and you have to practice each and every day. And just to keep working on reading the batters, what they are doing during, especially on game day. And that's what I am doing. Just trying to read the batter, what they are doing and sticking with my strength. And yeah, simple as that. Keeping things very simple," explained Kuldeep.
Balaji said that Noor will have a big role to play in the game against Delhi along with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. "Noor is an intelligent bowler who knows to vary the speeds judiciously. He is quicker than most spinners of his ilk and so it is difficult to pick him."
CSK batting has been inconsistent. They have not clicked as a unit and their middle order is yet to fire. With just a couple of days gap between two games, CSK team management had little time before them to make remedies. So what are the areas that the team worked upon?
"I think it's all facets of the game, to be honest. I mean, we can definitely be a bit sharper in the field. We've let a few chances slip. You know, there's definitely areas in, from the batting side of things, we can improve on. And also with the ball. You know, I mean, it's sort of early in the season. We're still trying to find that right combination. And so we're hoping just to keep improving along the way. And then when it clicks, then hopefully we can play some really good, consistent cricket. But we're certainly not at our best at the moment," revealed Hussey.
The wicket will be a red soil so it could offer some bounce to both sets of spinners. The winner of that particular battle, it seems, could give the team a massive advantage.