Indian Premier League season five has been termed as the most intense competition in the tournament’s short history. The tournament is coming to its end and the final match will be played in a few hours from now. Two times champion Chennai Super Kings will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in what is considered to be an epic battle.
Kolkata Knight Riders have been one of the most dominating teams in the tournament; they qualified easily and finished on number two after the league stage. They outplayed Delhi Daredevils in the first qualifier to book their seat in their first final.
Chennai on the other hand had a tough time in the league stage, they played some ordinary cricket and their fate rested with other teams. But, luck favored them and they qualified for the playoffs. In the playoffs, Chennai displayed some tremendous form and defeated both Mumbai and Delhi convincingly.
CSK will have a slight advantage in their favor because they have featured in the finals before and have the experience of playing in big matches. With their two IPL titles they also have a Champions League title to their name. Most of the players in the current CSK team were the member of the team that won the past two tournaments and the crowd will be behind cheering their home team.
MS Dhoni and his men will be aware of the things that KKR can achieve. Kolkata team management took some bold decisions after the first three years and it seems that it has paid off for them. They qualified for the playoffs in the fourth season and have bettered their performance this season.
Both the teams are very well balanced and have the ability to win the title and no team will go into the final as clear favorites. The best thing about these two teams is that they have some good domestic talent and that they are in good form.
When it comes to international players, both Chennai and Kolkata have potential match winners in their side. Chennai have got the likes of Bravo and Morkel who can change the course of the match and KKR have got players like Sunil Narine and Jacques Kallis in their stride.
The Chennai pitch will suit both teams equally as both KKR and CSK depends heavily on their spinners and the low pitch at Chennai will help the spinners a lot. Unlike the other matches of the playoffs this final is expected to be a nervous battle and the team which will handle their nerves better will come up as victorious.
By Indian Sports News Network