MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will cross swords with Eoin Morgan's Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2021 Final at the Dubai International Stadium tonight.
KKR, who had an unexpected turnaround in the UAE leg of the tournament after a shaky first phase will look to script a fairytale ending against Chennai and get their name etched on the illustrious IPL Trophy for the third time.
For CSK, who endured a nightmarish season last year, finishing at the penultimate spot were able to pen a perfect comeback this edition and stormed into the playoffs without any turbulence.
The Free Press Journal conducted a poll on Twitter ahead of the match which will commence today at 7:30 PM. The poll was conducted to find out which of the two teams will win the battle on field today.
Poll results indicate that there are more possibilities of Chennai Super Kings winning the Final tonight against Kolkata Knight Riders as 66.7% of cricket fans have voted in favour of the Men in Yellow, while only 33.3% are favouring the Kolkata based outfit.
The Knights completely revamped themselves in the UAE leg to become one of the most formidable sides of tournament, possessing great all-round prowess. Their opening pair of Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill have provided the team with solid starts.
Iyer in particular has been phenomenal with the bat scoring 320 runs in 9 innings at an average of 40.0 to. Gill too peaked at the right time and scored two fifties in last three outings. In IPL 2021 he has plundered a total of 427 runs so far. Rahul Tripathi too has been in fine touch, however the poor form of captain Morgan will be a reason of concern in the KKR camp.
Nevertheless, their bowling department has been a fine form with the likes of Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi and Sunil Narine. While Chakravarthy has clinched 18 wickets in the season so far, Narine and Mavi have scalped 14 and 10 wickets respectively.
The Super Kings on the other hand had a smooth season and got through the finals with a 4 wicket win over Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 1. Their opener Ruturaj Gaikwad has been in sensational form, scoring 603 runs at an average of 46.38. Faf du Plessis too has enjoyed a good stint in the tournament amassing 547 runs in the season.
Veteran batter Robin Uthappa rose when it mattered the most for the side and hit a match wining 63 off 44 balls, while their Thala MS Dhoni was back in his elements hammering an unbeaten 18 off 6 balls to secure a win for the Men in Yellow against Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2. Not to forget, their stalwart Ravindra Jadeja, who has stood up for team in every department of this season.
On the bowling front Shardul Thakur has picked 18 wickets while Josh Hazlewood has scalped 9 in the second leg. Deepak Chahar too has been in decent form and has claimed 13 wickets for the team.
Coming to Pitch report, the Dubai surface has been a batting friendly one. Chasing seems the way forward as the team batting second has won the last 8 games contested here.
Nevertheless, the encounter promises to be a cracker of a contest given the fact that two of the most well balanced teams will be taking on each other for the ultimate glory at the mega event.
