Depleted Chennai face biggest test
Match facts
Friday, May 2, 2008Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)
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The Big Picture
The Chennai Super Kings are the only unbeaten team in the Indian Premier League but, with the departure of Mathew Hayden, Michael Hussey - their top two runscorers - and Jacob Oram, the real work has just begun if they are to stay at the top. Their first match after the exodus is against third-placed Delhi Daredevils, who haven't been hit as hard: they've lost only Daniel Vettori, who played two of the four matches. Chennai now have a huge hole in their top-order and they will be tested by the IPL's best new-ball attack - Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif. A win at home against a strong opponent could provide Chennai with the confidence needed to maintain a strong campaign throughout the tournament. Delhi, whose batting has been almost as smooth as their bowling, will have other plans, though, and the fight for the semi-final spots could become more open than it currently is.
Watch out for ...
... Stephen Fleming, who is almost certain to make his IPL debut following the departure of Hayden and Hussey. He's played 36 Twenty20 matches and will need to use all his experience to counter Delhi's attack. The battle between Muttiah Muralitharan and Delhi's openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, could prove crucial if they get going against Chennai's new-ball attack. Sehwag hasn't had much success against Murali, falling to him four times in 38 balls since 2002 but Gambhir, on the other hand, has played Murali effectively, scoring 42 runs off 39 balls against him during the recent CB Series in Australia. Watch out too, for AB de Villiers, who may finally get a game: Dinesh Karthik has scored only 26 in two innings and de Villiers could slot in as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
Team news
Most teams in the competition have a problem of plenty when choosing their overseas stars for the playing XI. Chennai have no such problems because they are left with only four foreign players: Murali, Albie Morkel, Fleming and Makhaya Ntini, the latter two yet to play in the competition. There is also a doubt over their leading fast bowler Manpreet Gony, who has a fever.Chennai: 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Stephen Fleming, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), 5 S Badrinath, 6 Albie Morkel, 7, S Vidyut, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Makhaya Ntini.
Delhi are unlikely to make too many changes, though Vettori's absence makes Maharoof a strong contender for a comeback, having taken four wickets in three games with an economy of seven an over. However, Delhi have been relying on their top order to do most of the scoring so the inclusion of de Villiers could strengthen the middle.
Delhi: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Mohammad Asif, 10 Yo Mahesh, 11 Glenn McGrath.
IPL form
Chennai Super Kings: WWWWDelhi Daredevils: WWLW
Stats and trivia
Quotes
"Makhaya [Ntini] brings in a lot of experience and will of course open with the new ball. Albie is fine allrounder and then we have Stephen Fleming batting at the top of the order. So, I feel that our team has the kind of balance that it did not have in the previous four games."Kepler Wessels, coach of the Chennai Super Kings.
George Binoy is a staff writer at Cricinfo