Indian Premier League – Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers

The Chennai Super Kings face an unenviable task of squaring up to defending champions that were humbled in the opening match of the Indian Premier League.

Deccan Chargers were given a lesson in composure losing by 11 runs and must regroup and learn from their mistakes if they are to figure at the business end of the season.

They will realise a golden opportunity for early points has gone begging and coach Darren Lehman will be furious with his stars for not closing the deal with bat or ball.

After making early inroads into Kolkata they let them amass a healthy total and then after getting away to a brilliant start, stuttered miserably in the middle order.

Chennai captain and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni will have taken plenty of notes and with both teams two and two in previous clashes, a victory for Chennai will start their campaign in the most positive way while another loss to Deccan could derail theirs completely like the inaugural season.

Dhoni’s men will be wary initially fully aware of how dangerous Deccan’s quicks are at the start – Chaminda Vaas can still bend it through the air like a 19-year-old and RP Singh can hit the mark regularly. Andrew Symonds’ nagging medium pacers can quickly haul back in the run rate while Pragyan Ojha has a searching style that can draw false strokes.

Their bowlers aren’t slouches though, Muttiah Muralidaran is the world’s greatest ever wicket taker, Makhaya Ntini is one of South Africa’s great fast bowlers while Shadab Jakatai’s probing left arm orthodox spin netted him 13 wickets last season at an average of 16.69.

Deccan captain Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman will need to be on their toes against Lakshmipathy Balaji who has given his team plenty of early wickets, his 24 wickets in 22 matches at an average of 25 is testament to his talent with the swinging ball.

Dhoni himself will no doubt come under fire when he comes to the wicket, in the inaugural year he compiled 414 runs at an average of 41.40 and last year he similarly led the way with the bat, his 332 runs at an average of 41.50 helped his team reach the semi-finals for the second consecutive year.

You get the feeling that Chennai are onto something good – their combinations seem to be working and if they can field a consistent team and maintain those combinations they could go a long way to finally winning the entire tournament.

Their loss in the inaugural final to Rajasthan is still smarting and when they were bundled out in the semis by Bangalore you could sense that they were yet to reach their peak.

This year should be it and it must start against Deccan.

If you enjoyed this article then get full access to all our other features plus a 50% bonus when you sign up with us by clicking on this link!