Kochi look to end debut season on high (Preview)

Any side led by MS Dhoni has a sense of calm and doing their job without much of a frenzy kind of an approach. Chennai, defending champions, this IPL have been no different. Quietly, Dhoni’s side has gone about their business with play-off place almost sealed

Most of the Chennai wins this season have followed a same pattern. Bat first, put up a decent score on the board following up with a professional display with ball and some super stuff in the field. It is in the middle overs when Chennai bowlers, spinners in particular, choke opponents forcing them to come up with error filled strokes that lead to their downfall. In almost every won game, Chennai have come back with their backs against the wall and found a way to get them out of the mire.

Chennai, currently holding on to the second spot, will have their eyes on the top position with 16 points and for that to happen they need Bangalore to slip up in one of their remaining two games.

What makes Chennai a champion side is the fact that they seem to have all their bases covered. Likes of Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, S Badrinath, Suresh Rana and Dhoni himself complete a formidable batting lineup having big hitting all-rounder Albie Morkel for late order cameos. Bowling, though, has turned out to be their strongest suit with Morkel, Doug Bollinger and spinners R Ashwin and Shahdab Jakati amongst wickets and not going for many runs.

 For Chennai to keep their winning ways going they will have a Mahela Jayewardene-less Kochi, already out of play-off race in their debut IPL season., to confront with that blasted Rajasthan out of play-off contention in their last match with a super performance.

With Mahela off for international commitments, wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel will be skippering the side. Upbeat after their one-sided win over Rajasthan Kochi will be keen to end the season on a high. For that to happen they will have to bring that A-game into play.

Mahela’s loss would mean a big void in batting but Owais Shah’s fireworks in his first game augur well for the visitors. Brad Hodge and Brendon McCullum will share the batting burden again for the side and Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar and new kid Parmeshwaran will have a job on their hands to contain power packed Chennai batting unit.

For Kochi to overcome Chennai, that too on their home turf, is a big ask. It seems home team has all the required arsenal to overpower any side on Chepauk stadium and it looks highly unlikely that Kochi breaks that trend.

CHENNAI

Players who can make impact

Michael Hussey…Mr. Cricket as he is popularly known for his dedication for the game and way he conducts himself on the field and off it. He has again proved that age is no bar and continues to pile up runs at will. He has turned out to be a real impact player for the side scoring heavily at the top of the order.

R Ashwin…Young wily off-spinner Ashwin’s tight bowling and his ability to give vital breakthroughs for the team. With Chepauk pitch suitable for spin bowlers, Ashwin could turn out to be more than handy and make an impact with his off-spinners.

SQUAD

Abhinav Mukund, Albie Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Ganapathi Vignesh, George Bailey, Joginder Sharma, K Vasudevadas, Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni (c)(wk), Murali Vijay, Nuwan Kulasekara, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Scott Styris, Shadab Jakati ,Srikkanth Anirudha, Sudeep Tyagi, Suraj Randiv, Suresh Raina, Tim Southee, Wriddhiman Saha,Yo Mahesh.

KOCHI

Players who can make impact

Brendon McCullum… His brutal capabilities with the bat in the IPL are well documented. McCullum holds a record for the highest individual scoring 158 runs in the first IPL match played ever. But this season, the Kiwi swashbuckler has lacked consistency and failed to emulate his batting heroics. That by no means make him an average as his fireworks at the top of the order is the tonic that Kochi need to make things easier for the rest of the batsmen.

RP Singh… After a poor start in the IPL this season, he did pull things back with a decent bowling spells getting the new  ball to swing early and comes back in the end to get his variations and yorkers right on the money. All time highest wickettaker in the IPL history, left armer will be keen to end the season on a high and reinforce his claim for the place in Indian team.

SQUAD

B McCullum, Balachandra Akhil, Brad Hodge, Chandan Madan, Deepak Chougule, Gnaneswara Rao, John Hastings, Kedar Jadhav, Michael Klinger, Muttiah Muralitharan, Owais Shah, P Parameswaran, Parthiv Patel (c)(wk), Raiphi Gomez, Ramesh Powar, Ravindra Jadeja, RP Singh, S Sreesanth, Steve O'Keefe, Steven Smith, Sushant Marathe, Tanmay Srivastava, Thissara Perera, Vinay Kumar, VVS Laxman, Yashpal Singh.