AHMEDABAD: MS Dhoni would not mind a ‘farewell to remember’ while a young Shubman Gill, oozing grace, would do everything under his control to prevent Chennai Super Kings from beating defending champion Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League 2023 final here on Sunday.
It is only fitting that Chennai and Gujarat, the most consistent teams of the season, will battle it out for the coveted trophy. At the Narendra Modi Stadium, the soon-to-be 42 Dhoni, donning his favourite canary yellow, will look to stop Indian cricket’s megastar-in-waiting and do a ‘High Five’. On a batting belter, what will be Dhoni’s strategy to get the better of Gill?
It will be interesting to see who Dhoni turns to, to dismiss the ‘Orange Cap’ holder who has smashed 851 runs, including three hundreds, in the ongoing season. Will it be new-ball specialist Deepak Chahar or middle-overs magician Ravindra Jadeja?
Keeping in mind that none of the other Gujarat batters have managed more than 325 runs in IPL 2023, Dhoni will be eager to take the early initiative. Despite not having the best of bowling attacks at his disposal, the former India captain has managed his resources well. Slinger Matheesha Pathirana has been a revelation in the end overs and Tushar Deshpande has been among the wickets – he has 21 scalps – while being expensive.
In the batting department, the left-right opening combination of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad has provided Super Kings solid starts time and again. Ruturaj is in great touch, having scored half-centuries in the last two matches – against Delhi Capitals in Delhi in the league stage and against Gujarat in Chennai in Qualifier 1.
Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube have done their bit while Ambati Rayudu is yet to deliver his best. Dube is the joint second-highest six-hitter this season (along with Gill, with 33 maximums) and has been employed to take on the opposition spinners.
After failing in the previous match, Dube will have his task cut out against the duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad. The Afghan pair has picked up many wickets in the middle overs and will be eager to get GT over the line when it matters the most.
The pace pack, spearheaded by Mohammed Shami, too is in fine form. The ‘Purple Cap’ holder Shami will have the company of left-arm pacer Josh Little and the experienced Mohit Sharma, who bagged a five-wicket haul in the win over Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 here.
If Gill has a rare failure, the rest of the members in the batting unit will have to step up to the occasion. Skipper Hardik Pandya would hope to be at his menacing best to defend the crown his team had won with utter domination last year. With B Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia in its ranks, Gujarat has enough firepower to punish CSK on its ‘own patch’ yet another time.
The last time the two teams met at the venue – in the IPL 2023 opener – Gujarat posted a five-wicket victory. But, Super Kings will take confidence from the win it recorded over Titans in Qualifier 1 in Chennai a few days ago.