The second match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 will witness a thrilling contest between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. After having a forgettable outing in the last season, the Chennai Super Kings begin their IPL 2021 campaign with high expectations. The emergence of Shardul Thakur will be a huge boost for CSK, who did struggle with the ball in the death overs last year.
Although there’s a lot being said about Suresh Raina and captain MS Dhoni, they are arguably two of the best players to have ever played in the IPL. With the youthful exuberance of Sam Curran and Ruturaj Gaikwad rubbing off on the squad, the Super Kings will fancy their chances of a win in their first IPL 2021 encounter. They face a Delhi Capitals side who will be missing Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada as they are unavailable due to quarantine restrictions.
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However, DC has enough depth within their squad with the likes of Chris Woakes and new signing Umesh Yadav to star on the bowling front. The last time these two sides met in an IPL fixture, Axar Patel snatched a win out of the Super Kings’ claws with a magnificent cameo. Since then, both teams have made quite a few changes. Either way, both teams will be looking for the all-important win in the very first fixture as Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni pit their wits at the Wankhede on Saturday.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Despite three back-to-back fifties of Ruturaj Gaikwad towards the end of IPL 2020, CSK witnessed their worst IPL campaign, but he will be expected to start off as the team’s opener in 2021. But now he will be under pressure of giving his team quick starts, one of the biggest pet peeves for the three-time champions in 2020.
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Robin Uthappa featured in the middle-order towards the end of his KKR stint as well as for RR, but he performed at his best including a 660-run orange-cap winning season when he opened the innings for his team. He too could be CSK’s go-to man to give them a PowerPlay nudge. Imran Tahir will be expected to get more games compared to last season.
Probable XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa/Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir
Delhi Capitals (DC)
The Capitals will be playing their opening game with a depleted squad. If losing Shreyas Iyer for the season wasn’t enough, they will also be missing the South African pace duo of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, who combined to pick 52 wickets last season. Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav will have to handle fast-bowling duties with the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Chris Woakes chipping in.
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Axar Patel will also be unavailable after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, so DC will be looking for a second spinner and they could pick Praveen Dubey or fall back on the experience of Amit Mishra.
Probable XI: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer/Sam Billings, Chris Woakes/Tom Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Dubey/Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
