IPL 2018: Match 30, Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils - Expectation vs Reality

Chennai Super Kings’ campaign so far has been nothing short of magical – staging a comeback, coming back to Chepauk, having their home games shifted to Pune forced due to politics and a hero stepping up for them each game and the fact that MS Dhoni has been looking like he was just waiting to be in the yellow jersey.

With five wins in seven games, they are sitting pretty on the second position in the table, facing tough competition from Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab for the top spot. They were handed a loss by resurgent Mumbai Indians in their last game but that will do nothing to their dominance in the tournament. In fact, it will only help them correct a few flaws in the team.

Delhi Daredevils, on the other hand, have had an equally dramatic journey so far. They are looming on the bottom of the table with two wins in 7 games but their win over Kolkata Knight Riders after skipper Gautam Gambhir stepped down and was eventually sitting out, and with a far better playing combination, Shreyas Iyer led the side to victory with a captain’s knock. The contribution of youngsters Prithvi Shaw and Avesh Khan and the fact that Liam Plunkett has been looking good for them makes it an interesting time for the side to be on the cusp of staging a comeback in the tournament.

We have a few expectations from the match, do you too?

Pant time

After promising knocks like the 47 vs Mumbai Indians, 43 vs Kolkata Knight Riders and the 85 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pant failed in the two innings that followed. With DD beginning their upward climb, the wicketkeeper-batsman’s contribution along with the responsibility Shreyas Iyer is taking will be vital in the games to follow. A player of Pant’s potential will realise that and hope he can add to something special to the history books for his home side.

There will be a lot of spin on offer from CSK in the form of either Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma and perhaps even Ravindra Jadeja. Pant is excellent against spin and he must make full use of that and also the fact that Deepak Chahar has been ruled out and there will be forced changes in CSK’s bowling line up.

Harbhajan vs DD

His presence in the team for the fixture is not certain but if his numbers are anything to go by, he must be included in the side solely for his record against DD. No one has taken more wickets against DD in IPL than Harbhajan’s 21. He averages 20.19 against them at an ER of 6.68.

He had a fairly decent outing against his former franchise, Mumbai Indians where he picked up 1/20. However, there are not many bad players of spin in DD. If Munro manages to stay at the crease like he did against KXIP, then someone like Bhajji could be useful against him to exploit his weakness.

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