Shamik Chakrabarty in Chennai
The Chepauk crowd was neutral, in the true sense of the term. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals were playing the Qualifier 2, and from time to time, they broke into “CSK, CSK” chants. Outside the stadium, a group of fans was in a jovial mood, discussing the game wearing CSK shirts. Sunrisers took a leaf out of Chennai Super Kings’ book to reach the final.
The middle-overs spin-choke that Pat Cummins employed via Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma followed CSK’s template at Chepauk. MS Dhoni has done it so many times with aplomb. With the pitch turning, Cummins brought Abhishek into the attack from one end. The left-arm spinner hadn’t bowled for a month. But given the job in a knockout game, with not many runs to defend, he returned with 2/24 from his four overs. It was a match-winning contribution. It was superb captaincy from Cummins.
Sunrisers face Kolkata Knight Riders in the final, a side that is led by another fine captain, Shreyas Iyer. In fact, one subplot of the final is that it is going to be a face-off between the two best captains of the tournament.
KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir has been rightly given a lot of credit for his team’s marauding run this season. Iyer’s captaincy has somewhat slipped under the radar. But the KKR skipper has been excellent with his on-field decision-making, especially the way he has rotated his bowlers and taken the right calls in pressure situations.
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Over the last 12 months, Cummins has won everything that cricket could offer, from the World Test Championship to retaining the Ashes and the World Cup in India. Winning the IPL will make it four on the spin. But they are up against the tournament’s best team in the final and will have to do something special to lift the trophy. KKR are going to the final as clear favourites, being an all-round side that has all the bases covered.
The local mood around the final is not quite of disinclination, but fervour has been kept at arm’s length. Two months ago, on the eve of the IPL opener, Bells Road, abutting the MA Chidambaram Stadium, barely offered any space for the vehicles to move. On the day of Qualifier 2, cars and buses moved freely. The stadium wasn’t full either. Chepauk has a capacity of 38,200, and the official turnout for the Sunrisers versus Royals game was around 29,000. A cop, manning a stadium gate, hoped that the crowd would be bigger for the final. Some local cricket officials, too, are expecting a full house for the title showdown.
Coming back to cricket, Sunrisers are probably best equipped to handle Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy in the middle-overs. But that is if they get past Mitchell Starc. The Australian quick, bought for Rs 24.75 crore, is a master of raising his game on big occasions. He did it in Qualifier 1, running through Sunrisers’ top order. He will carry the psychological edge in the final.
The match-up between Starc and Travis Head would be the one to watch out for. It has been a decade-long duel and Starc has dismissed his Australian teammate five times in seven games, including four ducks. A lot will depend on how Head and Abhishek handle the KKR quick in the final.
Coming into the knockouts, Head and Abhishek were the most impactful opening duo of this IPL, scoring at the rate of knots and giving Powerplay batting a new template. The last three games, however, didn’t go well. When the Sunrisers openers are off to a flyer, they take the game away from the opposition. When they don’t, their team struggles.
For KKR, one aspect they are focusing on is their death bowling. It is learnt that bowling coach Bharat Arun had a meeting with the bowlers two days before the final, where some finer points of death bowling was discussed. The team management wants the bowlers to be tighter at the back-end of the innings.
Overall though, KKR are going into the final oozing confidence. Support-wise they will be outnumbered in the stands. But this team has the mindset and wherewithal to keep external factors out of the equation.
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