IPL 5 – Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils – Match Preview
Chennai Super Kings will be up against the top team of the current season, Delhi Daredevils today in the 59th fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.
The home team are the defending champions of the tournament and are without doubt the best IPL franchise over the last five years. However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 and company have struggled in the current season to be consistent.
The Super Kings are currently standing at number five on the points table with 13 points after as many matches. In order to qualify for the play-off stage of the tournament, Chennai cannot afford to lose any more matches as one more loss in the tournament could potentially cost Dhoni's men the title.
Chennai’s strength in the previous years has been its strong batting line-up but the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Faf-du-Plessis-c1427 is the only batsman, who has performed exceptionally well in the tournament on a consistent basis.
However, Chennai’s late-order batsmen, especially http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JA-Morkel-c1613 has been superb in some matches. Dhoni understands that he cannot rely on the lower-order batsmen to deliver the goods all the time and if Chennai is to move forward in the tournament, the top-order batsmen need to get their act together.
"Leaving it too late is not something we do intentionally, our top six need to perform. As the tournament progresses, we need to get going, the batsmen are coming under pressure early and they need to bat freely," Chennai’s skipper said after the win against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 Royals.
Delhi on the other hand are leading the charts this year and have already qualified for the last four of the event with 18 points after 12 encounters. They have one of the strongest batting line-ups of the tournament in the presence of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397.
No total seems to be enough for this star-studded batting line-up, which was proved in the last match against Deccan Chargers. The Chargers posted a massive total of 187 runs on the board in their allotted 20 overs. However, with the help of a stunning hundred by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DA-Warner-c1301, Delhi chased down the score with ridiculous ease (nine wickets and 20 balls to spare).
The Daredevils’ coach, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Eric-Owen-Simons-c56137, is happy with the showings of his team in the event but he is not ready to take the defending champions lightly because of its overall strength. He believes that Chennai can turn out to be a very dangerous unit in crunch matches.
"The higher you are on the table, the more freedom the opposition takes against you. They will take more chances. Not just in that perspective, but CSK is a very good side. They are full of quality and will take a lot of chances. So they will be particularly dangerous in the game tomorrow," Simmons said.
On form, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 is surely going to start the match as favourites but it would be foolish to underestimate the Super Kings. However, Chennai will hold a chance in the match only if Dhoni is able to restrict the destructive top-order of the Daredevils.
One thing is for sure that cricket of the highest quality will be witnessed today in Chennai.
Tags: