Chennai
It seems there is no single earthly power that can prevent Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians from going on a collision course. Delhi Capitals made a bold attempt at reversing the natural order of Indian Premier League on Friday, but was quickly put in its place somewhere down the pecking order by a vintage Super Kings outfit.
No one should have any misgivings, nor voice any reservations, about the identity of the two teams contesting the final of the IPL in Hyderabad on Sunday. Irrespective of the number of times they have met in a short time span, the question of tedium doesn’t arise as both sets of fans and neutrals alike do not baulk at the prospect of seeing them throw punches at each other with renewed vigour.
Yes, this may be their third meeting in less than three weeks, and these two powerhouses may have won the coveted trophy three times apiece, but in the land of the giant-sized Goliaths there is simply no room minuscule enough to accommodate the pint-sized Davids. It is truly astonishing to see these two teams gain access to the final with such unfailing regularity, making it look like child’s play, that other teams can only stare at in grudging admiration.
This is the Super Kings’ eighth appearance in the final, while Mumbai will be playing its fifth. A win here will make either one of the teams the most successful in the league’s history.
Despite being in possession of a glittering CV, that puts all others — barring Mumbai’s — to shame, there is no let-up in CSK’s manic pursuit of trophies. But if there is one piece of statistic that would make it grimace in agony, it is its rather worrisome record against Mumbai in the summit clashes.
Mumbai holds a 2-1 edge in the three finals they had met. It’s not often that you arrive at the final of a showpiece tournament with both finalists standing on the cusp of scripting their own piece of history. Of the 11 IPL finals that we have witnessed so far, three have been contested between these two franchises. And their latest showdown on Sunday will be the fourth time they will be meeting in the final.
Apart from the superior head-to-head record it enjoys over the Super Kings, Mumbai has proven that it has the wherewithal to absorb the concomitant pressure that invariably comes with playing in a final. Unlike the league stage, or even the Qualifier 1, where teams enjoy the luxury of a second chance in the event of a defeat to rectify their wrongs, the winner-takes-all that the final is doesn’t accord a similar privilege.
If a team sets its foot on a banana skin unmindful of its surreptitious presence, it will have to wake up to dire consequences. A slip-up at the most inopportune of moments after all the hard work it had taken to reach that stage will be calamitous. The Super Kings will have welcomed back the timely return to form of Shane Watson and it will hope that he will do an encore of his heroic act in last season’s final when he single-handedly won the match.
While the victor will understandably be reveling in its latest acquisition, proudly flaunting it to its followers swimming in a sea of delirium, the vanquished will be wallowing in an ocean of despair, returning home with nothing to show and nowhere to hide fully aware that it will have to wait for another 12 months to have a shot at the title. In a multi-team tournament such as the IPL, both Mumbai Indians and CSK have been engaged in a mini bilateral series of sorts with Mumbai having a stranglehold winning all the three duels this season without encountering a sniff of resistance to its authority.
But aren’t we aware that the Super Kings transforms into a different beast in the knockout stages, and with so much at stake it will readily put its aching bodies on the line.
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