3 mistakes CSK need to rectify: Chennai Super Kings will have to make amends on several fronts to be able to beat Mumbai in IPL 2019 final match.
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Barring Mumbai Indians, no other Indian Premier League team has a better Head-to-Head record against Chennai Super Kings. The fact that Mumbai have won more matches against Chennai both away and home speak highly about their stellar record against the defending champions.
There is a certain peculiarity with Super Kings that sees them in yet another IPL final. In what is their 10th IPL season, Super Kings will be playing their eighth IPL final. Given their consistent run in this extended time-period, they will be finding ways to overcome the MI-threat.
In the three matches which both the teams have played against each other in IPL 2019, Mumbai emerged as the victorious side in all the matches. Them defeating Super Kings twice in front of their home crowd is surely a concern which is most likely to be addressed in CSK’s team meeting on the eve of the final.
ALSO READ: Head-to-Head | Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings | IPL 2019 Final
3 mistakes CSK need to rectify
Comparing some common points between what went wrong in Super Kings’ defeats against MI and what worked for them in their 10 wins in the tournament so far, we have come across three concerns which CSK should rectify before IPL 2019 final.
Losing more than two wickets in the powerplay
While Chennai’s bowlers have not been majorly out of form, it is their batsmen who have let them down against Mumbai and during their other defeats in the tournament as well. CSK scoring 133/8, 109/10 and 131/4 in three matches against MI is a testament of the same.
Against Indians, CSK have lost three wickets in the powerplay in all the three matches this season. In the matches that they have won in IPL 2019, they have lost 1, 1, 3, 0, 2, 4, 2, 1, 1 and 0 wickets in the powerplay respectively. Them losing three wickets in the powerplay compared to losing an average of 1.5 wicket in victories has affected them dearly.
Top Three scoring less than 70 runs collectively
Super Kings’ Top Three have scored a total of 21, 48 and 21 in the three matches vs MI. In the 10 matches which Super Kings have won this season, they have registered scores of 47, 79, 50, 97, 74, 11, 88, 135, 98 and 111.
While their Top Three averages 30 against MI, they have a much-improved average of 79 in the matches that they have won in IPL 2019. Irrespective of batting first or second, in a bid to start well against MI, their Top Three in Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson and Suresh Raina should try to score around 70 (if not exact 79 or more) in a collective effort.
No batsman scoring a half-century
In three matches against MI, only middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav scored a half-century for CSK. The right-hand batsman scoring 58 (54) with the help of eight fours and a six in a 171-run chase did not do much good to anyone but people who bought him in their fantasy teams.
In the remaining two matches, no other batsman scoring a half-century affected them duly. In 10 wins, CSK batsmen have scored half-centuries on seven occasions (two half-centuries on two occasions). Hoping that his batsmen lay a solid foundation, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be wanting at least one of them (including him) to score a half-century.
