Royals skipper believes the overall balance of Chennai will see them go all the way in IPL II
Royals skipper believes the overall balance of Chennai will see them go all the way in IPL II
With the semi-finalists all but decided, the only interest in today's game between the Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers will be about the third and fourth place.
Delhi Daredevils are at the top of the table and Chennai Super Kings' win over Kings XI Punjab saw them take second place.
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Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina celebrate the fall of a Kings XI Punjab wicket yesterday. Chennai Super Kings won by 24 runs |
With Delhi scheduled to take on the team that finished fourth in the first semi-final, both Bangalore and Deccan would ideally be looking to win the game, finish third and meet Chennai in the second semi-final.
But that might not be the case if the two teams are willing to listen to what Shane Warne has to say.
The legendary leg spinner, considered as one of the best cricketing brains in the business with an exceptional eye for picking winners as he has shown with youngsters in the Rajasthan Royals side, believes MS Dhoni's Chennai is the favourite for the title.
"I don't believe the Delhi Daredevils are the best side in the competition even though they are in the No 1 spot," Warne said yesterday after Royals crashed out of this year's IPL. The 2008 winners lost to Knight Riders by four wickets in a low-scoring game.
"I would say that the Chennai Super Kings have the best team strong in all departments and they would be my pick to win the crown."
While Dhoni would be delighted with Warne showing such faith in his team, the India skipper, yesterday, was just happy to win the game and secure second place in another low-scoring match. And he also knows that they will have to start from scratch in the semi-final.
"We've played well to qualify for the knockout stages.
"Now, we need to really re-group and play to the best of our abilities. It's in our hands now and it will be up to us to determine our destiny," Dhoni said.
"We will need to bat, bowl and field with the intensity that will bring us victory," he said.
After electing to bat yesterday, the Chennai batting failed for the first time in the tournament, managing just 116.
But on a track offering prodigious turn, Chennai spinners managed to strangle Punjab. They could only manage 92 for 8 off 20 overs.
"We planned this one well. We knew we had a small total to defend and wanted to create pressure u2013 the Kings XI had to win to get through and Murali did the trick, for us.
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They wanted to play his four overs out but when he started taking wickets he brought them to their knees," Dhoni said.
