Its the "D" Day - IPL T20 Final Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals | Send gifts to your love one's in India
Mumbai, India - June 01, 2008
Final, Match No. 59th Preview. Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals are all set to square off with Chennai Super Kings in IPL’s final. Warne maintains his team always focused on its own strengths rather than the opposition's and thus were not concerned who, from amongst Chennai Super Kings and Punjab King's XI, would line up against them at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai to fight for the top prize of USD 1.2 million.
Both Chennai and Mohali are excellent teams and whoever comes through will give us a tough fight. We don't believe in focusing on the opposition and prefer to focus on our own strengths.
If we play like we have done so far in the tournament, including yesterday (against Delhi Daredevils) then the results will be in our favour," said the former Australian Test and ODI player.
Warne said the support he and his team got from the Mumbai crowd on Friday night against Virender Sehwag's Delhi was fantastic and probably had something to do with the fact that Sachin Tendulkar is his close friend. "The support we got yesterday was fantastic. It was a wonderful feeling that the crowd was behind us. Yes, Sachin is a very good friend of mine and this is Mumbai. I hope the crowd continues to support us tomorrow", he said.
The spin legend stated that the wicket at D Y Patil would favour the pacers more than the track he encountered on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium in the semi final. "The wicket on Friday helped spinners a lot. The ball was turning square. But the wicket at the D Y Patil has helped seamers more. It's a bit up and down. We have a well-balanced attack to do well there", he said though Rajasthan had lost their previous tie there to Mumbai Indians.
Warne said he would prefer a spinner to return with figures of 2 for 35 rather than 0 for 22, but others may have a different opinion. "I think if the spinner can chip in with some wickets and end up with say 2 for 35 after the pace bowlers have taken early wickets, it's better than finishing with 0 for 22. But others may think differently," he said.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne described as "huge loss" the non-availability of their opener Graeme Smith for Sunday’s Indian Premier League summit clash due a hamstring injury.
"It's unfortunate Graeme Smith has got injured. It's a huge loss for us. He's been in good form and one of the reasons for us being in the final. He's formed a successful opening combination with Swapnil Asnodkar, whom we call a Goa cannon," the leg spin legend said ahead of the tie.
"We have not yet decided who will open the innings on Sunday. We expect that person (either Kamran Akmal or Younis Khan) to step on to the plate and do well," he said.
While admitting that IPL is here to stay, Warne again reiterated that the IPL's duration, 44 days in the first season, should be shortened to 30 days in future. "The IPL should be held over just four weeks, starting in April and ending on May 1. Then all the players can be given 10 days' break before plunging into international cricket," he said.
On the other hand With a couple of half centuries from the bats of Patel and Raina, Chennai Super Kings sealed a comprehensive win over Kings XI Punjab, defeating them by 9 runs in just the 15th over. They will now face the mighty Rajasthan Royals in the final on Sunday. A win for Dhoni may justify his US$1.5m price tag.
M S Dhoni, siad surely it is a moment of glory for us. The bowlers did superbly well and took wickets in the early overs. The fielders also did an excellent job. Our fielding has improved throughout the tournament and in this match their was a combined effort from the entire team. And, we won because of that. One should achieve a great start in the beginning itself and it should be maintained. As far as the final is concerned, the pressure is there, and we will have to perform well in every area. I don’t say that I don’t get tensed but as a captain I cannot show it.
We are doing well in bowling, batting and fielding, but every match starts on a different note and in the final also, there will be a different start. Before the final, we don’t get any chance of recovery. We’ll go straight to hotel and then on Sunday we start for the field form the hotel itself. But, this is the demand of such a game’s format. And, nobody can escape from this. Supporters have cheered a lot for us. Many people came here from Chennai to cheer for us, even the Mumbai crowd is quite enthusiastic”.
Rajasthan Royals (probable): 1 Niraj Patel, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Kamran Akmal (wk), 4 Shane Watson, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Shane Warne (capt), 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.
Chennai are likely to retain their winning XI unless Dhoni decides to pick Joginder Sharma, who bowled that dramatic final over against Pakistan in the World Twenty20 final last year, over L Balaji, who had a poor outing in the semi-final.
Chennai Super Kings (probable): 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 S Vidyut, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt) 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 S Badrinath, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Manpreet Gony, 9 L Balaji/Joginder Sharma, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Makhaya Ntini.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS | INDIANS | KNIGHT RIDERS | DAREDEVILS | SUPER KINGS | KINGS XI PUNJAB | RAJASTHAN ROYALS | DECCAN CHARGERS
