IPL 2021 Final: CSK vs KKR - Battle of tacticians

The Indian Premier League final on Friday will be a clash between two of cricketrsquos finest tacticians when MS Dhonirsquos Chennai Super Kings take on Eoin Morganrsquos Kolkata Knight RidersBetween them they have won every major title on offer Morgan led England to victory in the 2019 50over World Cup Dhoni masterminded Indiarsquos wins He was Indiarsquos captain when they won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and the 2011 50over titleNeither has been a big runscorer in this yearrsquos pandemichit tournament which forced it to be moved to the United Arab Emirates But Dhonirsquos Chennai threetime champions have been the team to beat this year the first to make the playoffsDhoni 40 who will be a mentor for India at the T20 World Cup starting Sunday has been his usual unflappable self as the tension mounts ldquoPurely from the captaincy point of view who can handle the pressure best probably has to be Dhonirdquo admitted Gautam Gambhir the former India batsman who led Kolkata to their two previous IPL triumphsMorganrsquos Kolkata resumed the tournament seventh out of the eight teams but went on to win five out of seven games to reach the playoffslsquoVery cleverrsquo MorganThey knocked out Virat Kohlirsquos Royal Challengers Bangalore in the eliminator and then Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier on Wednesday to reach the final Kolkata advisor David Hussey the former Australian international said Morgan has made a huge impact on the teamrsquos results aided by the break during the IPLrsquos suspension when a Coronavirus surge hit India in AprilldquoI truly believe that Morgan is captaining really well hersquos marshalling the troops hersquos tactically very clever The bowling changes have been spot on I think thatrsquos contributed to our success this time aroundrdquo Hussey said after the win over DelhiMorgan made smart bowling choices on the slow UAE pitches with West Indies mystery spinner Sunil Narine as the attack kingpin Opener Venkatesh Iyer has emerged as an unlikely batting hero while Morgan has scored just 129 runs in 16 gamesRussell returnsKolkata may be forced to leave Shakib Al Hasan out of the team and bring back Andre Russell who is recovering from a hamstring injury Bangladesh want to keep Shakib fresh for the T20 World Cup that starts in the UAE after the IPLChennai are still smarting from their failure to reach the playoffs last season But Dhoni says key players made use of their time to improve their performances ldquoThat is the reason why we have come back strongly this seasonrdquo said the legendary IndianHeadtoheadCSK16KKR8KKR the ace chasersKolkata Knight Riders have won six matches in the UAE while chasing Interestingly nine out of 12 fixtures at Dubai have been won by the team batting second in this IPLItrsquos 5050Neither CSK nor KKR have any venue advantage at the Dubai International Stadium with both teams winning 50 per cent of matches here in this IPLNinth final for CSKMS Dhonirsquos team will be playing their ninth final in 12 editions they were suspended from participating in two IPLs2014The last time KKR played in an IPL finalCheck out all the latest news and updates on IPL 2021This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the contents in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever