3 key players for MI and CSK: The Sportsrush presents before you 3 key players that need to deliver for MI and CSK in the IPL Final Today.
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It’s right here. The day we all have been waiting for. And what better sight than witnessing an MI and CSK clash in the IPL final. With the two most successful franchises in IPL history ready with all their guns blazing, its high time we at TSR throw some light (or rather quite some light) at the 3 key players which both the teams today would bank upon.
On the contrary, these are most likely to be the 3 players from each team that both MI and CSK would be wary of, and ready with what we call it the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat) analysis.
With CSK into their record 8th IPL final, the MI would look to deny them back-to-back IPL titles. On the other hand, CSK would be desparate to halt the MI odd-year winning juggernaut (MI have won the previous IPL titles in 2013, 2015, and 2017) and prevent them from pulling it off yet again in 2019.
All- in-all, having shared 6 titles between them (3 each), it will be a neck-to-neck battle for supremacy between both the teams to win their record 4th title, and thereby emerge as the most successful franchise in the IPL.
3 Key Players for MI and CSK
Mumbai Indians (MI)
Hardik Pandya
Having scored 386 runs at an average of 48.25, and with a strike rate as high as 193.0, Hardik Pandya has beaten the bowlers ‘black and blue’ in this year’s IPL and would look to go bonkers one final time in the all-important finals for MI.
In the first league match both MI and CSK squared-off against each other, Pandya was the man for MI with both bat and ball. Coming late in the innings, he bolstered the CSK in the death scoring 25 off 8, and then picked up 3 wickets at the cost of only 20 runs in the 4 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah
Touted as the best death bowler in the world right now, Bumrah has to be the go-to man for MI skipper Rohit Sharma in the finals. He is currently placed 9th in the list of the highest number of wicket takers this season, and has bowled at an economy of only 6.84 per over. He has picked up 17 wickets in the 15 matches he has played thus far.
With his death bowling prowess, it would be difficult for the CSK batsmen to go all-out against him, as even MS Dhoni- who has been their pick of the batsman this season, struggled to go big against him in Qualifier 1. This was a major factor which reduced the CSK total to a paltry 131/4 at the end of their innings.
Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar had scored 59 off 43 deliveries in the first league match between MI and CSK this season, and was instrumental in their win.
He again played a blistering innings against them in the slow Chepauk wicket in Qualifier 1 this season, where he scored 71 off 54 deliveries and single-handedly won in for them.
ALSO READ: MI vs CSK Today’s Match prediction
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
MS Dhoni
He has been the pick of the batsmen for CSK this season. If MI has to pick up one batsman that they need to be wary of this year, it is unarguably MS Dhoni. He has scored 414 runs in the 14 matches that he has played for them this season, at an awe-inspiring average of 103.50.
MI will have to get rid to him real quick as they know how devastating he can be in the death.
Imran Tahir
24 wickets in the 16 matches at an average of 17.00 and an economy of 6.65. This has been Imran Tahir’s numbers this season and is just a couple of wickets away to grab the Purple Cap this year.
He has been the other big factor for CSK’s journey to the finals this year apart from MS Dhoni. Although the Hyderabad wicket would assist the pacers more than the spinners, Tahir still remains a threat for MI in the finals as he will bring his vital experience into play.
Shane Watson
Was a tough call on who to pick between Watson and Faf Du Plessis, but I’ll go with the former.
Although having gone through a poor run in form the entire season, Dhoni and CSK have kept on persisting with him. And they are doing it for a reason. He was integral in CSK’s win against Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 where he scored his 50 off just 31.
Moreover, who can forget the century he scored last year, when he had single-handedly won it for CSK in the 2018 IPL finals. Thus, MI will need to be wary of this ‘Big-Match player’, and CSK on the other hand, will hope he does it again for them for the second successive year.
