It is the finale of the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League and will see the Royal Challengers Bangalore play the Chennai Super Kings at the M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore got to the final with a punishing win over the Mumbai Indians whereas the Chennai Super Kings had carved out a clinical victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first Qualifier to enter the final.
Chennai v Bangalore odds:
It is the third final for the Super Kings (10/11 at
BetFred) of the four tournaments that they have played in while Bangalore had once before, got to this stage. While Chennai have won one tournament – they are the defending champions – Bangalore haven’t tasted success yet.
Bangalore (11/10 at
Totesport) did finish atop of the points table but lost to the Super Kings in a crunch game that pushed them into a roundabout manner to make it to the final – they had to beat the Mumbai Indians to get here.
Ground and Pitch:
The Chennai pitch should be a turning track with the new ball being the best time to bat against. If you are a Chris Gayle, this obviously does not apply to you!
Player News:
There are two Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen in the top five run-getters’ list – Gayle and Virat Kohli. Gayle’s story is well chronicled, dumped by the IPL franchise and then by the West Indies cricket board, he has come back strongly to grab the Orange Cap. And whenever Gayle has failed, it is Kohli who has done the scoring.
The proof that Bangalore is overly dependent on these two can be seen from the fact that there is no other batsman from Bangalore in the top 25 while Chennai Super Kings have five in the top 25, ensuring that the workload is shared by everyone in the top-order. AB de Villiers is Bangalore’s next best batsman and he has not breached the 300-run mark yet.
Michael Hussey is obviously the key for the Super Kings given his ability to bat through the innings but he has been dismissed by Zaheer Khan in consecutive games now. It may not be such a bad idea for Murali Vijay to take strike to Zaheer and see him off in the first over. The problem, however, is that even Vijay isn’t in the best of nicks and that is where the side has tended to struggle some time.
Prediction:
The record says it all. Chennai at home, played seven, won seven. Bangalore, on the other hand, have lost, each time Gayle has failed. On a turning pitch, the Super Kings will be favourites, given their bowling attack but the interesting bit is that Bangalore had gotten in an extra spinner in the previous game which could reduce the potency of the Super Kings batsmen.