Experience at the top key for CSK

One team comes in to this on the back of the narrowest of victories whilst the other comes in on the back of a comprehensive defeat. Week 1 of this seasons IPL ends with Chennai Super Kings taking on the Delhi Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium.

Faf on fire

A win and a loss so far for the Chennai Super Kings as they head in to the third match of this years competition. One constant though for them is the form of South African veteran Faf du Plessis. The experienced batsman has shown his class and scored 130 runs in the competition already and he looked like giving CSK a sniff with 72 from just 37 balls when chasing whopping 217 against the Rajasthan Royals last time out.

But Faf’s heroic efforts were in vein as CSK fell 16 runs short in a match where 416 runs were scored. They set themselves a good foundation with openers Shane Watson and Murali Vijay putting on 56 for the opening wicket. But just as the chase started to gain momentum, CSK lost wickets in regular intervals and besides du Plessis’ 72, no one went on to make the big score that was needed to chase down a target of that size.

With the ball, Sam Curran shown the importance of having a left arm option, picking up three wickets and only going at 8.25 runs per over, which in a high scoring game is very respectable.

Pace and Power

For Delhi it was a combination of raw pace and brute hitting that snuck them over the line in their super over win against Kings XI Punjab. All seemed lost when Kings XI needed just one from the final three balls, but Marcus Stoinis took two wickets from the final two balls to provide the first super over of this year’s IPL. It was earlier on in the day when Stoinis, who dons the nickname ‘The Hulk’ shown his class again, this time with the bat, bludgeoning 53 from just 21 balls.

Kagiso Rabada proved why he is one of the most feared bowlers in world cricket with his quick spell that saw him take 2-28 from his four overs. Axar Patel was highly economical conceding just 14 runs from his fours and Ravi Ashwin, in the one over he bowled before picking up a slight injury, took two wickets. The Delhi Capitals management team will be hoping that Ashwin will be available for this one, and any injury that he picked up isn’t too serious.

Match Tip

If CSK get it right with the ball I can see them winning the match overall, but for this tip, I am backing the experience of Shane Watson and Murali Vijay to have enough over the Delhi Capitals opening pair.

I am backing the Chennai Super Kings to have the highest opening partnership in this one at 2.00 with 888sport.

Bet Chennai Super Kings to have the highest opening partnership on 888sport