Chennai: It's now or never for five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), whose play off hopes hangs in thin thread.
With three losses in the last five games, CSK will be taking on a strong Rajasthan Royals (RR), which is placed second in the points table, in a must win contest at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium here on hot Sunday afternoon.
Placed fourth with six wins and six losses in 12 games and having a better net run rate, this will be the CSK's last home match and the first day match at Chepauk this season and the team needs to get its acts together to sign off its home fixtures on a memorable note.
While a win on the morrow will give more impetus to the home team's chances of making it to the play off, a victory for RR (16 points with eight wins in 11 matches), which was almost assured of a place in the knock outs, will propel it to the top of the table with 18 points, besides sealing its play off spot.
Despite losing its last two matches, RR could not be taken lightly by the CSK, which needs to fire on all cylinders and both the batsmen and the bowlers should rise to the occasion.
CSK started well with three wins on the trot, suffered a slip up, recovered, but again suffered reverses putting the team in a spot of bother.
The depleted bowling was completely exposed by Gujarat Titans at Ahmedabad on Friday on a perfect batting strip as CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad's decision to bowl first after winning the second toss in 12 matches, backfired.
The fielders were left to chase the leather in all parts of the ground as for the first time this season and the second time in IPL history, both the openers struck centuries in the same match. GT captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan added 210 runs--the highest ever opening wicket stand in the tournament history as the team scored 231 for three.
All the CSK bowlers to taken to the screeners as the absence of Bangladeshi left arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman (on National duty) and Sri Lankan sling bowler Matheese Paritharana (nursing a hamstring injury) were felt. Both of them have returned home. Pacer Deepak Chahar too has been sidelined due to injury, so as spinner Maheesh Theekshana making the bowling attack even more fragile.
Tushar Deshpande, who has been spearheading the attack, along with Sharadul Thakur, was among the wickets.
Simarjeet Singh, who impressed in his debut at Dharmasala and only in his early stages of IPL, leaked 60 runs in his four overs. Ravindra Jadeja, who is the most sought after bowler as he has the knack of picking wickets, apart from his invaluable contributions with the bat, too had a off day.
Medium pacer Daryl Mitchell, who bowled for the first time this season, too went for runs conceding 52 in four overs.
The bowlers were clueless as the GT openers feasted on them.
The batting too looked unsettled for the CSK. Except Ruturaj, Shivam Dube and Jadeja, there has no major contributions from the rest of the batters, barring iconic M S Dhoni's short cameos in the death.
The over dependance on out of form Ajinkya Rahane, who was pitchforked into the opener's slot, has cost the CSK dearly. It's high time the team management consider giving him a short break to study on his failures and come back into the team if it makes to the play offs.
Dube started off on a promising note as a finisher, but two successive noughts and a 20-plus core in the last match, further hurt the CSK batting.
The CSK should first find out a way to arrest the trend of losing wickets in the power play, an area of concer. This has put more pressure on the rest of the batters.
Chasing 232, the team lost three wickets within the first three overs. Half centuries by Mitchell and Moeen Ali, who surprisingly did not bowl on Friday, revived the hopes but the pressure and the mounting asking rate, dented CSK's chances, despite Dhoni's 11-ball 26 (3x6, 1x4).
RR on the other hand, appeared well settled and will be keen to seal the play off slot tomorrow.
Openers Yahasvi Jaiswal and Jos Butler are in prime form. Skipper Sanju Samson too was in good nick. Riayan Prag and Shubham Dueby along with Rovman Powell adds more stability to the middle order.
On the bowling front, left arm seamer Trent Boult leads the pack with timely breakthroughs in the power play along with fellow pacers Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan.
The experience of offie and local star R.Ashwin and wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal lends moe variety, with Riyan Parag too chipping in with his leg spins.
The CSK faces a herculean task in qualifying for the knock out phase. With the teams in the bottom half trying to catch up with improved performances, the CSK should not only win tomorrow but also should emerge victorious against RCB at Bengaluru in its last IPL league match on May 18 to overcome the midtable muddle.
KKR and RR with 16 points each and SRH with 14 points were placed in top three, with three teams--CSK, Delhi Capitals and LSG--tied with 12 points, while RCB and GT with 10 points each still has a chance to make it for the play offs, opening up the race for the fourth spot in the play offs.