IPL Grand Final - Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals at Mumbai
58 matches and 44 days later sees us reach the Grand Final which is to be played between the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals.
Both teams had easy semi final wins, the Royals were far too good for the Delhi Daredevils while Chennai easily overcame a disappointing Kings XI Punjab outfit. This is the game they've been waiting for though, the big one. The chance to become the first ever winners of the IPL tournament and bragging right until next year.
Rajasthan have been the best team so far, they lost their first game only to dominate the rest of the tournament doing as they pleased with a list that no-one really rated. A lot of that success has been atrributed to Shane Warne who has lead his side brilliantly despite having a list where only a few players really stand out to IPL followers from outside of India. The Royals big guns have fired for them though, Warne, Shane Watson, Graeme Smith, Kamran Akmal, Munaf Patel, Sohail Tanvir and Yusuf Pathan have all done their job and they have proven to be a pretty formidable outfit, brushing aside most sides in their path. That group of players will again be crucial to their success tonight although Graeme Smith won't play due to injury.
Chennai too have been pretty good. The MS Dhoni lead Super Kings finished third at the end of the home and away season and played a blinder in the semi final against the Punjab side to reach this game. The departure of a few international players early in the series didn't seem to hurt them that much as their lesser known players have stepped up beautifully. Parthiv Patel, Makhaya Ntini, Albie Morkel with Gony, Belaji and Muralitharan providing food support. Chennai seem to more even in terms of output and contribute as a team more regularly rather than Rajasthan who have a core group of very good players which play well in their matches.
All in all, this should be a ripping contest, both teams are explosive with the bat but also very competent with the ball, this looks to be very even and let's hope we see a great, hard-fough match.
Chennai Super Kings XI: 1 +Parthiv Patel, 2 S Vidyut, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 *Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 S Badrinath, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Manpreet Gony, 9 L Balaji, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Makhaya Ntini.
Rajasthan Royals XI: 1 Niraj Patel, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 +Kamran Akmal, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 *Shane Warne, 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.
Toss: Rajasthan who chose to bowl first
Umpires: Billy Bowden and Rudi Koertzen
3rd Umpire: Daryl Harper
Weather:
(Farenheit in brackets)
Currently: Partly Cloudy, 32 (90)
Expected: Mostly Fine, 29 (85)
58 matches and 44 days later sees us reach the Grand Final which is to be played between the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals.
Both teams had easy semi final wins, the Royals were far too good for the Delhi Daredevils while Chennai easily overcame a disappointing Kings XI Punjab outfit. This is the game they've been waiting for though, the big one. The chance to become the first ever winners of the IPL tournament and bragging right until next year.
Rajasthan have been the best team so far, they lost their first game only to dominate the rest of the tournament doing as they pleased with a list that no-one really rated. A lot of that success has been atrributed to Shane Warne who has lead his side brilliantly despite having a list where only a few players really stand out to IPL followers from outside of India. The Royals big guns have fired for them though, Warne, Shane Watson, Graeme Smith, Kamran Akmal, Munaf Patel, Sohail Tanvir and Yusuf Pathan have all done their job and they have proven to be a pretty formidable outfit, brushing aside most sides in their path. That group of players will again be crucial to their success tonight although Graeme Smith won't play due to injury.
Chennai too have been pretty good. The MS Dhoni lead Super Kings finished third at the end of the home and away season and played a blinder in the semi final against the Punjab side to reach this game. The departure of a few international players early in the series didn't seem to hurt them that much as their lesser known players have stepped up beautifully. Parthiv Patel, Makhaya Ntini, Albie Morkel with Gony, Belaji and Muralitharan providing food support. Chennai seem to more even in terms of output and contribute as a team more regularly rather than Rajasthan who have a core group of very good players which play well in their matches.
All in all, this should be a ripping contest, both teams are explosive with the bat but also very competent with the ball, this looks to be very even and let's hope we see a great, hard-fough match.
Chennai Super Kings XI: 1 +Parthiv Patel, 2 S Vidyut, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 *Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 S Badrinath, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Manpreet Gony, 9 L Balaji, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Makhaya Ntini.
Rajasthan Royals XI: 1 Niraj Patel, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 +Kamran Akmal, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 *Shane Warne, 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.
Toss: Rajasthan who chose to bowl first
Umpires: Billy Bowden and Rudi Koertzen
3rd Umpire: Daryl Harper
Weather:
(Farenheit in brackets)
Currently: Partly Cloudy, 32 (90)
Expected: Mostly Fine, 29 (85)