Five months later than scheduled, the Indian Premier League title will finally be won on Friday when the Chennai Super Kings take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2021 final in Dubai as two former champions bid to be the leading lights once again.
The Super Kings had the direct route through to the final and play do or die cricket for the first time here. The Knight Riders have survived a couple of cliffhangers in knockout matches to make it to this final and will hope to use that to their advantage.
Chennai Super Kings
I don’t think anyone could argue that the Chennai Super Kings have been the best team this season but this tournament isn’t set up for the best team to win the competition, it is the one who play the important matches they best. I’m not even sure they played the Qualifier 1 match all that well but when push came to shove at the time to win the match they were able to come up with the goods. That is something which bodes well for them in this final.
Another thing that was a positive from their previous match was that MS Dhoni showed that he can still deliver the goods. He had been very quiet since the tournament restarted so if he is coming to the boil at the right time that can be no bad thing. I’m still a little concerned about their bowling attack which has gone round the park a few times in this UAE leg of the campaign but if they come good the Super Kings, who should be fresh going into this final, have a real chance.
Kolkata Knight Riders
I would imagine the heart rate of the Kolkata Knight Riders camp is still coming back down to normal after that amazing Qualifier 2 on Wednesday. The Knight Riders looked to be cruising into the final when they were dominating the Delhi Capitals, much like they have dominated most matches since the competition restarted, but then all of a sudden one of the most ridiculous collapses of all time took place and they ended up stumbling over the line.
The good thing was that they got over the line and are in this final and they can now look back on that collapse as a good thing because they have lived to tell the tale. It would be naïve if someone doesn’t take responsibility throughout the innings here having seen what nearly happened when they all left it for each other on Wednesday. One area Kolkata have been strong since the league restarted is with the ball. They look the best team in that department.
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Key Men
Generally in finals it is the experienced players who step up and are counted so MS Dhoni could be a big man for the Chennai Super Kings. He looked great finishing Qualifier 1 and if things are going wrong for the Super Kings he might be the one to get it back on the straight and narrow.
Shakib-al-Hasan has a big part to play in this match. He is likely to bowl four big overs in the powerplay and middle period of the game and then he will be the one to hold it together down the order if the younger players haven’t got the job done.
Betting
Bookmakers can’t split these two sides and I suspect one of the reasons for that is there is an extremely good chance that whoever chases will win the game given the dew factor here and that both these teams have shown much more strength chasing than they have setting a score. Obviously we won’t know who that is going to be until the toss so betting on the match outcome isn’t really possible until the toss has taken place.
I note though that in the three attempts Chennai Super Kings have had to post a score on this ground they have put up scores of 156/6, 136/5 and 134/6 so they don’t do a great job of it. Kolkata aren’t the best side setting a score either so I fancy that this might be a lower scoring final, especially when you consider the quality of the two bowling attacks, the pressure of the situation and the tiredness of the wickets in Dubai. The runs line for this final is 306.5 but asking both to pass 150 might be asking a lot, especially if some early wickets go down.
Tips
Back Under 306.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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