The big ticket final between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings will be played on Sunday and deliver a first-time winner in the third edition of the IPL. The match will be played at the Dr. DY Patil in Navi Mumbai and will follow the grand closing ceremony consisting of the Oscar winner, AR Rahman performing live.
Mumbai Indians (17/20 at Sporting Bet) will go into the match as favourites and that will simply be because of their comprehensive performances in the tournament so far. Someone or the other has taken up the gauntlet and it would be fair to say that they have not relied heavily on only one batsman or bowler to get to the final.
Chennai, on the other hand, have had to scrape through and had often found themselves in tough situations from where getting out seemed implausible. And if the Super Kings bat first, there may just be many more takers to the 6/5 that Boylesports offers for their win.
The news from the Mumbai camp is obviously not great for the Sachin Tendulkar (9/4 at Boylesports to top-score for Mumbai) fans, and that is that he may miss out of playing in the final due to his finger injury. If that were to be the case, the batting at the top may look a tad brittle, but most importantly, there may be the existence of some inexperience. Saurabh Tiwary (11/2 at Bet Fred to top-score for the Mumbai side) has been in fine form, while Ambati Rayadu (6/1 at Blue Square to top-score for his side) has played the role of supporting cast to perfection, but it has needed Kieron Pollard to smack a few blows in the end for the Mumbai side to get going.
To me, that is where the Super Kings will look to take advantage and try and unleash the slower bowlers to the burly man from Trinidad and Tobago. And this is where the Mumbai Indians will need to be ready with the likes of JP Duminy (5/1 at Sky Bet to be the best batsman for Mumbai) to accelerate in the middle overs as well.
Chennai’s batting has looked a little up and down, but that has most to do with Mathew Hayden’s (7/2 at Bet Fred to top-score for Chennai) lack of runs, and the over-dependence on Murali Vijay (10/3 at Bet Fred) for the same. Hence, every time Vijay has got going with the bat, the side has invariably been comfortable. Suresh Raina (7/2 at Stan James to top-score for his side) is a decent talent, and on tracks where the bowlers could grow old trying to bounce him out, he could be a man to watch out for.
With MS Dhoni (5/1 at Paddy Power) showing signs of return to form, and S. Badrinath’s (15/2 at Blue Square to top-score for their side) experienced hands in the middle order, the Super Kings, to me, look like a well-oiled unit!
Tips:
Favourites: Simply, the team batting first!
Top Mumbai batsman: JP Duminy (5/1 at Sky Bet)
Top Chennai batsman: Suresh Raina (7/2 at Stan James)