IPL 2021 MI vs CSK Match 27 Preview

image: BCCI

This is the penultimate match of the season's first round. After the 28th match between SRH and RR, the first round of the season will be completed, where all the team have played with all the other 7 seven other teams once. from the 29th match, the team will be playing for the second time.

This is a big match for the Indian Premier League fans, as we can expect a thriller match and the aggression of some serious rivalry between the two teams. Both the teams have played 6 matches till now, in which CSK only lost a match to DC whereas MI lost 3 matches.

The 27th match of the IPL will be played in Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad and the match begins at 7:30 PM.

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai has able to win all the matches but the first match against the Delhi Capitals. In that match, the team has performed well but, the DC has performed better than them.

This team has able to break the winning streak of the Royal Challengers Bangalore by taking the wickets of the team's big-guns in the middle over. 

All thanks to Sir Jadeja, he scored 37 runs from Harshal Patel's last over and took 3 wickets in the second innings.

Chennai needs to be careful by not giving any runs to Mumbai Indians in the death overs. If they are succeded in restricting them, Chennai is going to win.

The CSK batting big guns needs to flourish in the powerplay and try to set a maximum score and make MI harder to chase in the following innings, if they chose to bat first.

Chennai Super Kings Squad

Probable Playing 11

1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Mumbai Indians

In the 6 matches they have played, MI just won 3 matches. They won those matches because of very good bowling. Mumbai Indians have lost their touch in the batting as they are not scoring much compared to last year.

In the death over, the team is struggling as the death bowling specialist batsmen are failing to score runs and losing wickets in the process.

If this continues, it might hard even to secure 4th position on the points table. Its time for Mumbai Indians to change the squad and try to do experimenting with new players.

The CSK bowling and MI bowling is equal in all aspects,but the team whcih adapts to the situation and pressure will be the winner.

Quick wickets and tight feeling might save them from Chennai Super Kings in today's match.

Mumbai Indians Squad

Probable playing 11

 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Krunal Pandya, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 8 Jayant Yadav, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

IPL 2021 CSK vs SRH Match 23 Preview

image: Hotstar

Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals will be playing a match in Feroz Shah Kolta Stadium, Delhi. This the first IPL match played this season. A few of the journalists think that playing a cricket match in Delhi cricket stadium is inappropriate and insensitive as the patients are dying in the Hospital nearby the stadium. The match will begin at 7:30 PM IST.

After yesterday's match, Chennai Super Kings rose to 2nd place in the points table as their net run rate is more compared to the Delhi Capitals with the same points in the table. 

Sunrisers are at the bottom of the points table after their only win against the Punjab Kings. In the 5 matches they have played, the team managed to win only a match. In the match against Delhi Capitals, they have managed to draw the game but lost to DC in the super over.

The Chennai Super Kings are in full swing and no one can stop them from winning this game. They even broke the RCB's winning streak. To win this game, Sunrisers Hyderabad needs a big miracle. This year is a bad year for Sunrisers.

Playing 11 :

SRH: David Warner (capt), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, J Suchith, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul

CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar

IPL 2021 CSK vs RCB Match 19 Report

image: BCCI

Chennai Super Kings broke Royal Challengers Bangalore winning streak in this season of the IPL. It's better to say Ravindra Jadeja broke the Royal Challenger Bangalore winning streak with a wonderful batting in the last over and with beautiful bowling in the middle overs.

After winning the toss, Chennai Super Kings chose to bat firsts. CSK openers Ruthraj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis made a wonderful start for the team. They both had done a 74 runs partnership in 58 balls. RCB has failed to pick a wicket in the powerplay.

In Chahal's 10th over, Ruth Raj Gaikwad was caught out at deep square by Jameison. Then Suresh Raina and Faf got out in Harshal Patel's 14th over. Both of them were caught out in deep mid-wicket and long-on.

In 18th over, Ambati Rayadu got out in Harshal Patel's 18th over. In the 20th over, Ravindra Jadeja scored 37 runs after hitting five 6's and a four. With this massacre, the Chennai Super Kings score reached 191 with a loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs.

With a big score to chase, Royal Challengers Bangalore's stumbled after their openers got out early. In the powerplay, RCB lost Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal.

In the middle over, the Royal Challenger Bangalore batting line-up collapsed in the Ravindra Jadeja bowling. Even, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell are the victims of his bowling. At last, CSK won the match by 69 runs all thanks to SIR Jadeja.

IPL 2021 CSK vs RCB Match 19 Preview

image: BCCI

This is the 3rd doubleheader out of 10 in this season. In the first match, Chennai Super Kings will be playing against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. This is the last match that is to be played at his stadium in this 14th season of the Indian Premier League.

Chennai Super Kings lost only their first match against Delhi Capitals and they won the remaining all the matches. CSK scored 220 runs against KKR and stopped them chasing the runs in the last over by taking all the wickets. That match is so intense and thrilling to watch.

Till now in this season, Royal Challengers Bangalore didn't lose a match. In the last game, the team openers completed the match without flinching to Rajasthan Royals bowling. Devdutt Paikkal is the first player from RCB to score a century except for Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle.

Chennai Super Kings

All the batsmen are performing wonderfully compared to the last year. Eventhough they lost the first match they bounced back with a wonderful win against Punjab Kings. 

Their bowlers are taking wickets in the powerplay and in the death overs and keeping the run rate to minimal.

The only thing that bothers me is the performance of the CSK middle-order batsmen. If the top order collapsed to the RCB bowler in the first 10 overs, the CSK will be in deep trouble. 

The only assured player in the middle order is MS Dhoni and his performance is questionable against the RCB bowling line up.

In the last four matches, Dhoni has got a chance to play in 3 matches, in which he scored just 35 runs during the death overs. This is a bit scary for CSK while playing against RCB.

Jason Behrendorff will not be available for the CSK as he is under quarantine.

Chennai Super Kings Squad

Probable Playing 11

1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Deepak Chahar

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Till now, this team didn't lose any match this season. All thanks to their exceptional bowling and batting in the last four matches. 

All the players in the team have performed well this season and helped the team when they are required the most.

At first, I want to talk about RCB bowling, Harshal Patel is the leading wicket-taker this season. He started with a five-wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians in the first match of the season. And he consistently taking wickets in the matches.

Mohammed Siraj is a dangerous bowler in the powerplay and in the death. CSK batsmen need to be cautious with him and the spinner Y Chahal has become quite expensive.

Then the RCB batsmen need to be cautious with Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar in the powerplay and middle overs. Both the Chahar brothers are fighting for the purple cap this season. If the top order collapsed, no one can save RCB.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad

Probable Playing 11

1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Shahbaz Ahmed, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Kyle Jamieson, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Kane Richardson, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammad Siraj

IPL 2021 KKR vs CSK Match 15

image: BCCI

In the second match of today's doubleheader, Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl first to stop the CSK batsmen. But their plan failed, Ruthraj Gaikwad did perform well today with the help of the Faf du Plessis.

In 77 balls, the duo scored a whopping second-highest partnership in this season of the Indian Premier League. KKR has waited till Varun Chakravarthy's 13th over to take their first wicket of the match. Rutraj Gaikwakad 64 (42), caught out by Pat Cummins at deep mid-wicket.

Then, Moeen Ali and Faf du Plessis made another 50 runs partnership in 27 balls. In Sunil Naraine's 17th over, when Moeen Ali 25 (12) missed the ball, Dinesh Karthi stumped the wickets and got him out.

Then, Faf du Plessis with help of Dhoni and Jadeja scored an amazing total of 220 runs just by losing 3 wickets in 20 overs.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers proved to be costly this night. Only Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell took a wicket each. Only Varun Chakravathy's economy is under 8 in the bowlers, which is not good and KKR needs to focus a bit on the bowling.

With a high score to chase, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill opened the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders. They had a very bad start in the powerplay, the team lost half of the wickets in the powerplay.

Starting with Shubman Gill in Deepak Chahar's 1st over, Nitish Rana in D Chahar's 2nd over, Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine in D Chahar's 5th over, And Rahul Tripathi in L Ngidi's 6th over.

Out of the 5 wickets, Deepak Chahar took 4 wickets in the powerplay. As I mentioned him as the dangerous bowler in the powerplay for CSK in the match preview. He's done what I feard to the KKR.

From then Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik really revived the match with regular boundaries. The required run rate is coming down while the duo is playing.

They both made  81 runs partnership in 53 balls, which is later broken by Sam Curran in the 12th over. The ball has struck the leg stump and dislodged the bails with blinking red lights. At once, I felt sad to watch Andre Russell walks out of the ground with a heavy heart.

 Then with the help of Pat Cummins, Dinesh Karthik played for a while with regular boundaries. Chennai Super Kings has tightened their fielding to avoid singles. There more dot balls in these middle overs after the match has picked up.

In the 15th over, Ngidi has got Dinesh Karthik for a LBW. Since then, Pat Cummins has done a one-man show in the field. He is the only guy who is able and hitting the boundaries. Especially in Ngidi's 16th over, Pat Cummins hit 5 consecutive boundaries. In that over, he scored 30 runs.

It seemed like, he can win the match for KKR and the equation is still reachable but with his stupid decisions, he sacrificed others and his wickets to CSK fielders. At last Chennai Super Kings won the match by 18 runs and 5 balls left.

IPL 2021 KKR vs CSK Match 15 Preview

image: Hotstar

The second match of the second doubleheader is between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at 7:30 PM in Wankhede stadium, Mumbai.

Both the teams have played three matches, in which Chennai Super Kings won two against Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals and lost one match to Delhi Capitals. Whereas Kolkata Knight riders won a match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and lost two matches against Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders are losing the matches due to the weak middle order, in the last three matches, no player in the middle order scored more than 30 runs. All the runs are scored by the openers and the upper-middle-order batsmen. 

If openers lost their wickets, the runs scored per over is reducing and the batsmen are eventually losing his wicket. and thus they are unable to win the matches.

Against RCB, KKR bowlers have done a good job by picking two wickets early but, they are unable to pick Glenn Maxwell's and AB de Villiers wicket in the middle overs. By the time Maxwell is dismissed the damage is already done.

Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar can do unrecoverable damage to the KKR if, the openers dismissed early. If that happened, this game also will be a low scorer.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad

Probable Playing 11

1 Shubman Gill, 2 Nitish Rana, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Shakib Al Hasan/Sunil Narine/Lockie Ferguson, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Harbhajan Singh/Shivam Mavi, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Chennai Super Kings

With the two consecutive victories, CSK is in full form and can easily win this game just by following a few basic tricks.

Right now, the CSK opener Ruthraj Gaikwad is the only flaw in the top order batsman. And I don't agree with the position of MS Dhoni playing. He could have gone up for two places.

If Chennai Super Kings won this match they will be the table toppers, irrespective of the morning sessions win.

To win the match early, the CSK bowler just needs to pick the wickets of the openers before the powerplay and the remaining wickets will come automatically as the game progress.

The new addition to the team Jason Behrendorff, will not be available for this match too, as he is under quarantine after landing in India.

Chennai Super Kings Squad

Probable Playing 11

1 Robin Uthappa/Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Sam Curran, 8 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 9 Dwayne Bravo, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Deepak Chahar

IPL 2021 CSK vs RR Match 12 report

 

image:BCCI

After the toss, Rajasthan Royals elected to bowl first and told that the bowling first works in this pitch and trusts his team and played with the same team as the last match. Even CSK has gone with the same team as the last match.

In the 4th over, Rutraj Gaikwad 10 (13), departed in the Mustafizur Rahman's over after giving a catch to Shivam Dube at the mid-off.

After that, in the Jaydaev Undakat's 5th over, Faf du Plessis 33(17), scored 19 runs with the help of four boundaries and caught out R Parag in the 6th over by Chris Moriss. This the one of the costliest over for Rajasthan Royals.

Then, it's Moeen Ali Turn to hit a few boundaries and got out in Rahul Tewatia's 10th over after giving the catch to R Parag in the deep mid-wicket.

When Ambato Rayadu and Suresh Raina are about to get a 50 runs partnership, in Chetan Sakariya's 14th over the ball was caught by R Parag at sweeper cover.

From then on, Rajasthan Royals bowlers started to take regular wickets and didn't give any time for CSK batsman to settle.

But in the last three overs, RR bowlers gave no less than 15 runs per over, this is the costly mistake they have done. Dwyane Bravo and Sam Curran are the heroes for scoring runs in the death overs.

By the end of the Innings, Chennai Super Kings made 188 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs.

With a big target to chase, Rajasthan Royals batsmen came to the crease. The openers Manan Vohra and Jos Buttler started with a good 11 runs in the first over. From then the dot balls started to increase, in Sam Curran's 5th over, Manan Vohra 14(11) was caught by Jadeja.

Immediately after that, Sanju Samson was departed in Sam Curran's 6th over by giving a catch to Dwyane Bravo at the mid-on.

With help of Shivam Dube 17(20), Jos Buttler 49(35) trying to build a partnership to rescue the team but, in the 11th over, Jadeja took both of their wickets at the start and end of the over.

From this moment Rajasthan Royals lost their upper hand, the CSK bowlers are taking wickets regularly and made their situation worse.

Rahul Tewatia and Jaydev Unadkat tried to revive the RR from the death bed but, the equation is unsolvable for them too and departed later. In this innings, Ravindra Jadeja took four catches which are almost near the boundary line.

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 45 runs. These are the runs that Chennai Super Kings scored in the last 3 overs of their innings. Those three overs did cost Rajasthan Royals a match.

 

IPL 2021 CSK vs RR Match 12 Preview

image: BCCI

Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals lost a match each after playing 2 matches in the tournament. This match is important for everyone as the CSK is in the 4th position before this match with 2 points and the RR is just behind CSK with the very same 2 points, just a difference in run rate.

Those who win this match will claim the 4th position and two extra points in the table. The match is going to begin at 7:30 PM at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Chennai Super Kings

Till now, CSK lost a match to Delhi Capitals and won the match against the Punjab Kings. We can say that the CSK bowlers performance is improved from the first match compared to the second. 

In the first match against DC, CSK bowlers felt the pressure to deliver the wickets but failed to do so and gave runs to the DC batsmen. In the second match against PBKS, from the beginning, CSK bowlers showed their upper hand by taking 3 wickets in the powerplay.

Today, it might be different, as, in the last game between the DC and PBKS, the bowlers seem too hard to pick wickets in the first innings of the match. So the team that opt to bat first might have the advantage.

CSK's batting is improved compared to the last season of the IPL. The top order is in the good form and scored runs till now and has a good strike rate in the powerplay.

The CSK batsmen need to be cautious with Chetan Sakariya, Jaydaev Unadkat and Criss Morris as they are the most dangerous bowlers from RR.

And the CSK bowlers need to pick the RR's top order as soon as possible to decrease the risk of leaking the runs.

Lungi Ngidi might be playing this match as he has completed his mandatory quarantine after coming from South Africa. 

Chennai Super Kings Squad

Probable Playing 11

 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad/Robin Uthappa, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 9 Dwayne Bravo/Lungi Ngidi, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Deepak Chahar.

Rajasthan Royals

In the first match against the Punjab Kings, the captain missed the victory by just a few yards. That's a match that will be remembered for a while.

In the second match against the Delhi Capitals, the bowlers showed their full extent of performance. Especially, Jaydev Unadkat, who took 3 wickets of the DC's top order in the powerplay which helped to win the game.

Compared to the first match, RR batsmen struggled to bat in the second due to some exceptional bowling from Delhi Capitals. If RR batsmen tremble like this today's match, the CSK's bowling lineup will finish them off in no time.

The most dangerous bowlers for RR batsmen is Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar in the powerplay and Sam Curran in the death overs.

RR bowlers need to pick CSK batsmen wickets regularly by not allowing them to build any full-fledged partnership in the game. This is the only strategy that helps them to restrict them.

Rajasthan Royals Squad

Probable Playing 11

1 Jos Buttler, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Shivam Dube, 5 David Miller, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Jaydev Unadkat/Shreyas Gopal, 10 Chetan Sakariya, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.

IPL 2021 PBKS vs CSK Match-8 report

image: BCCI

 

In this match too, the toss winning captain MS Dhoni chose to bowl first. That really seems to be a good decision as Chennai Super Kings restricted Punjab Kings for just 108 runs in 20 overs.

Most of the damage is done by Deepak Chahar in the powerplay, as he took a total of 3 wickets and runout in these overs. 

The Punjab Kings started with a very tough over, as their opener Mayank Agrawal 0(2) departed in the Rahul Chahar's first over. 

Followed by Punjab Kings Captain KL Rahul's 5(7) wicket in the 3rd over, after a miscommunication with the striker Chris Gayle, the skipper got run out, stumped by Ravindra Jadeja.

In the 4th over, Deepak Chahar took two wickets, Chris Gayle 10 (10), was caught out by Ravindra Jadeja in the short cover and Nicholas Pooran 0(2) was also caught by Shardul Thakur.

Hurricane Hooda of the last match also departed just after the powerplay in the Deepak Chahar's over caught by the Faf du Plessis in mid-off.

For then, Sharukh Khan 47(36) and Jhye Richardson 15 (22) tried to build a partnership, but that didn't help the Punjab Kings to score more.

By the end of the innings, Punjab Kings scored 106 with a loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs.

With a small target to chase, the CSK batsmen had a good start compared to PBKS as they just lost Rutraj Gaikwad's 5(16) wicket in the Arshdeep Singh's over. 

From then, Moeen Ali 46 (31) and Faf du Plessis 36*(33) built an amazing partnership of 64 runs in 46 balls with regular boundaries. As the target is short, the PBKS bowlers have no option of building pressure on the CSK batsmen.

By the end of the match, CSK batsmen struggled a bit after losing wickets to Mohammed Shami in the 15th over and chased the target with 26 balls and 6 wickets remaining.

Overall, the match is one-sided from the beginning and the match bored me a lot.

IPL 2021 PBKS vs CSK Match 8 Preview

image: BCCI

In the first match, Punjab Kings won against the Rajasthan Royals by defending a huge total and won by just 4 runs shy. Both the teams took the match to the final ball of the final over. Just by sheer luck, the Punjab Kings have won the match.

This time it will be different, today Punjab Kings will be playing against the Chennai Super Kings in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. In the 6th between RR and DC, both the teams found it difficult to score runs in the middle and final overs of the innings.

Let's see if any of the winning team captains chose to bat first. Since the first match, everyone is closing to bowl first.

Punjab Kings

In the first match, the top and middle-order batsmen played most of the innings, with more boundaries than the singles. In today's match, running between the wickets is important than the boundaries as the CSK bowlers are hard to hit for too many boundaries like in the previous match.

A partnership of the top and middle-order batsmen might be crucial for the PBKS to get a good score or chase a score. And the effective blowing from PBKS is going to decide their fate.

Arshdeep Singh really done a good job in the match against the Rajasthan, especially the last over of that match is unforgettable.

Shardul Thakur, with his bowling, can really do the damage to the PBKS batting lineup during the powerplay and Sam Curran at the death over. Sam can really show his impact on the scoreboard, if he can stop runs from flowing, the PBKS squad will be in real trouble. 

Coming to the batsmen, in the middle overs Ambati Rayadu and Suresh Raina can score runs for the team. More the time they stay in the field, the more damage for PBKS.

Here is the squad of Punjab Kings

Probable playing 11: 

1 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Chris Jordan, 8 Jhye Richardson, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep Singh

Chennai Super Kings

In the first match against the Delhi capitals, CSK bowlers are unable to stop the runs from leaking. This is the main reason to lose the match. 

CSK didn't get any wickets of DC in the powerplay, if this happens today against PBKS, the score crosses 200 again.

KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Deepak Hooda are done the most damage for the Rajasthan Royals. These three wickets are important for Chennai Super Kings.

CSK batsmen need to look after Arshdeep Singh in middle and death overs and Mohammed Shami in the powerplay. Both the bowlers can take wickets and will not give any runs which may hurt the run rate for CSK.

Here is the squad of Chennai Super Kings

Probable Playing 11 

1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Dwayne Bravo, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Deepak Chahar

Suresh Raina's come back in IPL 2021

image: BCCI

 

After a year gap, we all saw Suresh Raina bat for the Chennai Super Kings in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. He Scored an amazing 54 runs in 36 balls, after losing quick wickets.

With the help of Moeen Ali and Amabati Rayudu, Suresh Raina built a fabulous partnership when the team need the most. 

Here is his knock against Delhi Capitals in match 2

Match Report for CSK vs Delhi Match-2

image: BCCI

After winning the toss, Delhi Captains new rookie captain Rishabh Pant opted to bowl first due to the due factor on the ground. 

Chennai Super Kings lost their first wicket of Faf du Plessis 0(3) in the 2nd over to Avesh Khan. Then Immediately, Ruturaj Gaikwad 5(8) gave a catch to Shikar Dhawan in the Chris Woakes over. 

After these two back to back wickets, Moeen Ali and Suresh Raina built a 53 run partnership in 38 balls with regular boundaries. After a long time, it's good to see Suresh Raina hitting sixes in the stadium. He missed the last season of IPL due to personal reasons.

This partnership is broke by the veteran Indian spinner R Ashwin in the 9th over. Moeen Ali 36(24) gave a catch to Shikar Dhawan at the third man, trying to sweep the ball offside, after hitting two consecutive sixes.

Then Ambati Rayudu joins the party with Suresh Raina, they both too made a 63 runs partnership in 33 balls. When they are batting, boundaries rained in the Wankhede Stadium. This rain didn't last too long. 

At the end of the 14th over, Ambati Rayudu 23(16) gave a catch to Shikar Dhawan in Tom Curran's over. In the Anvesh Khan's over, due to a miscommunication and bowlers fault, Suresh Raina 54(36) got runout.

Immediately after that, the captain of CSK M S Dhoni got out in the Anvesh Khan's over. After seeing MS Dhoni got out, my heart just skipped a beat. That was his 4th duck out in the Indian Premier League.

Then Curran brothers fought each other but, the younger brother Sam Curran won it by hitting his brother over to the boundaries with the help of R Jadeja.

At the end of the first Innings, CSK made 188 runs in 20 overs by losing 7 wickets.

Second Innings

Prithvi Shaw and Shikar Dhawan opened the innings for the Delhi Capitals and made a huge partnership of 138 runs in 88 balls. The CSK fielders dropped the Prithvi Shaws's catch twice in the match.

They both punished the CSK bowlers with regular boundaries, they make sure they had at least two boundaries in an over, for 10 overs. They maintained 10 runs in an over till they are back to the pavilion.

By the time Dwayne Bravo took the wicket of Prithvi Shaw 72(38), it's too late to stop Delhi from capitals scoring runs. After some time, Shikar 85 (54) gave his wicket to S Thakur.

Pant, Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer completed the match by scoring the few runs left by the openers. At last, the rookie captain won the match for his team by hitting a four.

Here are the Match Highlights

CSK signs Jason Behrendorff

image: Athletesvoice.com.au

 After Josh Hazelwood opted out of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League due to bio-bubble fatigue, Chennai Super Kings signed Jason Behrendorff replacing Josh.

This 21-year-old Australian player has a decent bowling record in the T-20 format. In the seven matches he played, he picked seven wickets and has an economy under eight.

His debut T-20 match was against India in Ranchi on 7th October 2017, In the second T-20 match on 10th of October 2017, he picked 4 wickets just by giving 21 runs.

He got Rohit Sharma, Shikar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, and Manish Pandey's wicket in that match. Here is the scorecard of that match. He also played for the Mumbai Indians in the 2019 edition of IPL.

I would say, he is an excellent in-experienced left-arm bowler. As there is no reputed fast bowler who can deliver their best at the death overs for CSK, Jason would be the man for the job.

A young bowler from Afghan bowled good balls to seniors

image: Twitter

Fazalhaq Farooqi, a 22-year old young Afghan left-arm pacer is brought by the Chennai Super Kings in the auction. He just played a single international T-20 match against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi and took a wicket by giving just 27 runs in four overs.

As the IPL matches are just two days away, the teams are playing practice matches among themselves by dividing up into two teams. The youtube is full of them in the last 48 hours. 

In the CSK practice sessions, Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled a few excellent balls to MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. At first, he balled short balls to Suresh Raina, his weakest zone and then he balled wide yorkers for MS Dhoni.

Both the senior player found hard to send his balls to boundaries in the practice match. They just managed to rotate the strike between them with singles.

Josh Hazelwood opted out for the entire season and Lungi Ngidi will be unavailable for the next few matches due to mandatory quarantine.  Fazalhaq Farooqi will be the best option for the Chennai Super Kings for their pacer position.

This 22-year-old can do wonders in the forthcoming Indian Premier League edition if he played well and under MS Dhoni captaincy.

Here is the video of the Fazalhaq Farooqi bowling to Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni

Afghanistan's Fazalhaq Farooqi Bowling to Captain @msdhoni & @ImRaina During Practice Game 🔥#WhistlePodu #CSK #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/Jwm0CMeV0C

— Chennai Super Kings FC (@TeamSuperKings) April 6, 2021

Few overseas players to miss their first match

image: ICC

A few of the South African players to miss their first match. As they have just arrived in Indian after completing the first two ODI matches against Pakistan. According to the BCCI guidelines, the players have to be quarantined for a certain period of time.

If the quarantine period is two weeks, the players are going to miss at least three to four matches in this period. Most of these players are very important for the teams to win matches on the league stage.

I think the players will be under quarantine just for a week, to see whether they have developed symptoms and test regularly for the virus.

The list of players includes 

• Quinton de Kock, wicketkeeper and the opener of Mumbai Indians, 
• Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, wicket-taking bowlers from Delhi Capitals, 
• David Miller, a middle-order batsman from Rajasthan Royals, 
• Lungi Ngidi, pacer from Chennai Super Kings.

With this list, Delhi Capitals have to lose the most. As the team already missing their star captain Shreyas Iyer due to shoulder injury, Axar Patel Tested Positive for the coronavirus and the two most important bowlers will be missing their first match.

Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock can be easily replaceable by Ishan Kishan. But you can't replace the reliable opener batsman Quinton de Kock. He has played a few wonderful innings in that position.

I think Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan will open the first match followed by Chris Lynn/ Anmolpreet Singh.

For Rajasthan Royals, David Miller is an option for the squad but not the only choice for the top-middle-order. For Chennai Super Kings, Lungi Ngidi is also an option as they use their new recruits to fill the seamer position in the team.

IPL 2021 CSK vs DC Match 2

The second match of the Indian Premier League 2021 is between the Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Capitals on the 10th of April.

Chennai Super Kings led by the legendary, cool captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The team won three times in the IPL. But, last year the team didn't even qualified for the playoffs.

Delhi capitals, led by the rookie captain Rishab Pant by replacing Shreyas Iyer. As Shreyas Iyer injured his shoulder during an ODI match, he was ruled out for the entire season.

This team went to finals last year, and knock out stage the year before that. As the team is performing well, for the last two years, this year they might really have the chance to lift the cup.

The match starts at 7:30 PM IST in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The match will be played behind a closed door without spectators due to coronavirus.

Chennai Super Kings

The team is lead by MS Dhoni, a former captain of the Indian cricket team. With his experience, he led the team as a three-time champion in IPL. But, last year, the team didn't even make it to the knock-outs.

As CSK really struggled with their batting lineup and didn't have good middle-order batsmen. Raina, Harbajan Singh leaving the tournament due to personal reasons made a huge impact on the team.

The new includes such as Cheteshwar Pujara, K Gowtham, Moeen Ali might add strength to the batting and bowling line up. Moreover, Raina is back on the team. 

Here is the squad of Chennai super kings

Probable playing 11 *: This will be updated soon 

Team News

• Lungi Ngidi will not be playing the first match due to mandatory quarantine.
• Josh Hazelwood opted out of IPL 2021 due to personal reasons. 

Delhi Capitals

With a new captain and new purchases, the team is on fire this year. As they made almost to the finals last year, this year Delhi Capitals are already in the limelight. In 2019, the team made it to knockouts and lost to Chennai super kings in Vishakapatnam. They made it to the finals in the previous season and lost to Mumbai Indians. 

The change in captaincy and losing two important players for the first match might put DC in a tough place. They might struggle a bit from the start. If they opt to bat first, and if Shikar gave a good start and took the total score to 180 -190, the team might have an edge against CSK.

Here is the squad of Delhi Capitals

Probable Playing 11 *: Shikar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishab Pant (c &wk), Shemron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel/ Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, K Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma/ Umesh Yadav. 

Team News:

• Shreyas Iyer to miss the entire season due to a shoulder injury.
• Rishab Pant to take his place as Captain.
• Axar Patel has tested positive for coronavirus, he might not play the first match.
• Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje will no the playing the first match due to mandatory quarantine.

Toss: This will be updated soon

Pitch Report: This Will be updated soon

Weather: This will be updated soon

For detailed analysis visit https://digest.cricn.co.in.

*  Probable playing 11 is just a guess by my side after the careful analysis of the teams. These are not 100% garunteed.

You can join us for the live blog down below.

Matches in Mumbai will be played as per schedule

image: IPL

According to the Cricbuzz report, the 10 matches which are scheduled at Mumbai will be played as per the schedule without any interruption. Despite the government's partial lockdowns at night and at weekends. 

As long as the teams maintain their bio-bubbles for the players and supporting staff, there will not be any restrictions on the Indian Premier League matches played in Wankhede stadium said Police Commissioner to MCA official.

image: ECB

In other news, Moeen Ali, the 33-year-old English player, who will be playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the 14th edition of IPL, refuses to wear the team jersey promoting the alcohol company. 

The team management respected and accepted his choice and made a special jersey without the alcohol company logo just for him.

As the player is from a religious family, he keeps his distance from alcohol even during the champagne popping celebrations after winning a match.

Chennai Super Kings paid seven crores for the player in the Auction.

Josh Hazelwood to stay out of 14th edition of IPL

image: CSK twitter

Australian cricketer, Josh Hazelwood has dropped out of the 14 edition of IPL. The player supposed to play for Chennai Super Kings for this season has taken this decision, as he is in either bio bubble or quarantine for the last 10 months playing cricket for CSL or for his country.

He said I want to get ready physically and mentally at home for the next year to cricket.com.au. As there is a T- Twenty world cup and Ashes tournament ahead for the player for 12 months after completing the IPL.

Hazlewood didn't play many matches for the Super Kings last year. He just played in only three matches as they lined up their bowling with domestic options alongside all-rounders Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo for the most part.

He joined the list of players who are missing the tournament.

 Chennai Super Kings official Twitter page tweeted that he would be missed this year.

Will be missing some Josh this #Summerof2021! Hoping for some aussome action soon in #Yellove! #WhistlePodu 💛 🦁 pic.twitter.com/cTRGbFvHP7

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 1, 2021

Chennai Super Kings Net-Practice Started in Chennai

Pc: Chennaiipl Instagram

Chennai Super Kings have started their net practices in Chennai with wide-open of stadium gates to fans. Allowing fans to watch their favourite stars practising their cricket shots and bowling actions is normal during IPL seasons in Chennai. As usual this year also CSK started their net-practise 25 days earlier to the starting match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on march 29th at Mumbai in Wankhede Stadium Mumbai.

The clip of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Net-practice clip is uploaded by Chennai Super Kings in its official Instagram page. This video clip has got 1.2 Million views as of writing this post.




There is a lucky fan who escape the fences and wished dhoni while running around in the stadium.