CHENNAI: After the trouncing they dished out to Mumbai Indians in their own backyard on Sunday, Chennai Super Kings will not be taking Delhi Capitals for granted when they face off at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Tuesday. Both teams will be upbeat after winning their opening games.
Chennai and Delhi ride on their depth in batting. But the visitors’ was largely untested in the opener, when they restricted Royal Challengers Bangalore to 70. Though MS Dhoni’s men opted to go with just three overseas option to accommodate an extra spinner at Chepauk, they could also explore the option off including Faf du Plessis for this clash.
After finishing last in the previous season, Delhi seem to have gotten their bearings straight this time. By roping in Shikhar Dhawan, the hosts have strengthened their batting line-up that consists of Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. South African import Colin Ingram, also showed how dangerous he
can be with a quickfire 47 against Mumbai.
After notching up a blazing 78 in the opener, Pant will be determined to make a strong case for the World Cup, even though India skipper Virat Kohli has said that the management has almost zeroed in on the squad and performances in this event will be not taken into consideration.
Impressed with Pant’s performance, coach Ricky Ponting said that he could be a match-winner for Delhi. “I have seen Rishabh mature in his game and as a person. That won’t be the only game he wins for us. He will win many more. I have known for a couple of seasons now that Rishabh has got that X-factor, but what I like more and more about him is how he is turning that into match-winning performances more and more often as well,” said Ponting.
“Colin Ingram did a great job to change the momentum for us, and giving Rishabh a platform to go and finish off the innings. But he is something special. You don’t see an innings like that every day, and he is doing it more and more often.”
In the bowling department, Kagiso Rabada may be a potential threat for Chennai. Trent Boult and Ishant Sharma did not have the best of starts, going for plenty in their opener.For Chennai, the focus will be on death-bowling specialist Dwayne Bravo, who sent down only one delivery in their first game. After ending the 11th edition on a not-so-great note with the ball — his economy was 9.96 — the Trinidadian will be looking to get back into his groove. With Delhi also having quite a few left-handers in their line-up, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh might play a crucial role.Though Chennai’s head-to-head record against Delhi stands at 12-6, a new-look Delhi will be keen to change their fortunes come Tuesday.
