Consistent Chennai ready for Mumbai clash

It’s a measure of how consistent the Chennai Super Kings have been that they’re just a game away from a fifth final in six seasons of the Indian Premier League. It’s also a measure of the times we live in that the first few questions Stephen Fleming faced had little to do with that, and everything to do with the spot-fixing scandal that has taken the sheen off a season that has seen some exceptional cricket with both bat and ball.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Fleming, who has overseen another table-topping campaign. “The standard of this IPL has, I thought, been excellent. And of course this [the spot-fixing scandal] is going to overshadow the play that’s going on. We’ve got one week now to hopefully get three more great games, and somehow push aside some of the events.
“We don’t want them all pushed aside, of course. But we still want the IPL to finish off on a good cricket note. Certainly, from a CSK point of view, that would be great.”
If there’s one team that has had the measure of Chennai down the years though, it’s the Mumbai Indians, who boast of eight wins in 13 meetings. Fleming and Chennai won’t be unduly perturbed by those figures though. When they met in the one match that mattered most – the 2010 final – it was Chennai that prevailed.
Since then, Mumbai have actually won more league games than Chennai – 30 to 28 – but they keep slipping up in the playoffs. Last year, MS Dhoni’s 20-ball 51 sent them packing, while the year before, Chris Gayle smashed 89 from 47 to ensure another early flight back to Mumbai. There’s no doubt that Chennai will target that big-match frailty.
There’s little to choose between the two batting lineups. Michael Hussey finished second in the Orange Cap standings for highest run-scorer, while Suresh Raina has enhanced an already impressive IPL reputation with 466 runs that have included a century and a 99.
Dhoni’s 398 runs have come at the astonishing strike-rate of 167.22, and any concern over M Vijay’s underwhelming performances – 271 runs at 22.58 – is offset by his remarkable record in the crunch games. He won the 2011 final with a 52-ball 95, and steered the path to the final last year by eviscerating Delhi to the tune of 113 from just 58 deliveries.
For Mumbai, Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik have both had fine seasons with the bat, though Karthik’s form has slumped a little after the opening weeks. Kieron Pollard has struck the ball ferociously at times, while Dwayne Smith has enjoyed more success than both Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting at the top of the order.
Rohit, who has led Mumbai since Ponting’s abdication, couldn’t confirm whether Tendulkar would be fit to play today. It’s fair to say, however, that his absence would not be as keenly felt as it once was. With 287 runs from 14 matches, the Tendulkar of this season has been a long way short of the standards he set in 2010, when he led the league with 618 runs.
Mumbai certainly hold the edge when it comes to bowling. Lasith Malinga may not have been in Purple Cap (most wickets) contention this year, but both he and Harbhajan Singh have been miserly in conditions that have mostly been loaded in the batsmen’s favor. Pragyan Ojha has been nearly as economical, while Mitchell Johnson’s displays – 22 wickets and an economy rate of 7.11 – have been a world apart from his struggles in the international arena. Even the fringe bowlers like Dhawal Kulkarni have had their moments.
Chennai have Dwayne Bravo in second place on the wicket-taking charts with 25, but both he and Chris Morris have gone for more than eight an over. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been economical without running through sides, and a bowler who few had heard of before the season began has stolen the limelight instead.
Mohit Sharma’s 17 wickets have cost just 15.76 apiece, and his economy-rate of 6.23 is comfortably the best among the frontline bowlers on either side. He isn’t especially nippy, but he’s bowled with real intelligence, troubling the batsmen with accuracy and subtle movement.
With Albie Morkel also fighting to be fit in time, there will be added pressure on Mohit to deliver the early breakthroughs. Neither team is known for its rapid starts, and early wickets could well be decisive against teams whose big hitters like to come in and do damage once a platform has been established. Chennai were skittled for just 79 in their last meeting – “We didn’t just lose, we got absolutely thumped,” said Fleming – but both teams will go into this match knowing that defeat doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the road.
This is, of course, the party without a host. Delhi Daredevils, table-toppers last season, lost five of six games at the Kotla on their way to the bottom rung. Chennai were comprehensive winners here, while Mumbai ran into Virender Sehwag on a rare good day.
It may not be winner-take-all, but with the winners of the first qualifier having gone on to take the title in each of the last two seasons, there’ll be no shortage of intensity on display. “Now that we are here, we just going to get on and say all bets are off,” said Fleming. After the briefest of pauses, he added: “I can’t say that.”
Sadly, that’s what the final week of the competition has been reduced to.