The show has begun and it\u2019s time again when the country would feast on over 50 days of continuous entertainment called the Indian Premier. Chennai Super Kings face off Mumbai Indians in the opening match of IPL Season V at Chepauk Stadium and one can expect a lot of fireworks in the middle.<\/p>\n
According to an article in The Hindu, <\/strong>the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League could be a box of excitement and surprises. \u201cThis is Twenty20 time and the fielders might be chasing leather. But, then, at Chepauk, the ball might also hold sway. The relaid pitch played low and slow during the Champions League matches at this venue last year. Run-making demanded application, and spinners turned influential. Since then, the surface appears to have settled down. A measure of grass on the wicket for the matches here should assist in the binding of the pitch. There should also be greater bounce in the wicket, at least in the early games, here,\u201d says the article.<\/p>\n According to a column by Sourav Ganguly in Hindustan Times, <\/strong>Chennai Super Kings would definitely be looking to achieve a hat-trick. \u201cThe biggest positive for CSK is that they have held on to their core team for some years now. When you have a set team for sometime, it helps the captain in deciding a lot of matters. He, by now, knows how a particular cricketer responds to a particular situation, which will help MS Dhoni not only decide the playing eleven but also who should take centre-stage in a particular situation. Dhoni\u2019s team will miss a few players due to injury, some will be busy doing national duty during the early phase. But he still has the back-up to field a strong team. India players like Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, S Badrinath and R Ashwin will surely provide the fire-power, not to forget Dhoni, who, according to me, is a world class act in the shorter formats of the game. Chennai also has variety in their bowling,\u201d writes Dada.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Sunil Gavaskar in his column in The Times Of India <\/strong>writes that the opening match between MI and CSK promises to be a humdinger. \u201cBoth teams have plenty of big-hitting talent and some incredibly attractive stroke-makers. The bowlers in this format are usually on a hiding to nothing and have little option except to grin and face it, but even they can play a part if there is some help in the pitch. Sachin Tendulkar has opted to hand over the reins of the captaincy to Harbhajan Singh. The offspinner had led the team to the Champions League triumph and will be looking to win the IPL for a team that has got everything. He has not been in the Indian team for some time now and so is fresher than the others and in the first game there will be the prospect of him against Ashwin, who has taken his place in the Indian team. In cricket there is always room for such sub-plots and so that will be something to look forward to.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The show has begun and it\u2019s time again when the country would feast on over 50 days of continuous entertainment called the Indian Premier. Chennai Super Kings face off Mumbai Indians in the opening match of IPL Season V at Chepauk Stadium and one can expect a lot of fireworks in the middle. According to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[661,876,559,1249,570,659,3142,556,810],"class_list":["post-4301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-the-newspapers","tag-chennai-super-kings","tag-harbhajan-singh","tag-ms-dhoni","tag-mumbai-indians","tag-r-ashwin","tag-ravindra-jadeja","tag-s-badrinath","tag-sachin-tendulkar","tag-suresh-raina"],"yoast_head":"\n