The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which is to meet the Kane Williamson-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Sunday’s grand finale to be played at the historic Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, have followed divergent paths to the finals which would be one of the most important sporting events in the country in 2018.

While CSK defeated SRH convincingly last Tuesday (22nd May) at the same venue to book a direct path to the finals, ‘lucky loser’ SRH had to battle it out against Kolkata Knightriders (KKR) on Friday night in front of a frenzy ‘home crowd’ at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.  SRH’s victory on the virtual second semi-final remains dedicated to one man; Afghanistan’s Rashi Khan, who batted, bowled and fielded like ‘a man possessed’ while helping his team defeat KKR and book a place in Sunday’s finals.

59 matches have so far been played in this year’s edition of IPL and experts predict Sunday’s final to be the ‘ultimate’ humdinger of the year.  People and cricket lovers, who have been shunning films (in theatres, of course!) on the nights during match-days, have loved SRH’s tough climb into the final but would nevertheless be rooting for CSK, the ‘comeback kid’ as far IPL, 2018 is concerned.

After missing the last two editions of IPL (in 2016 & 2017), CSK entered the fray tentatively under the same captain and almost same set of players.  Two of its most notable players in the past – Mohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin – had been taken by KXIP while it got two very important and impactful players in its ranks in the form of Shane Watson and Harbhajan Singh, who had captained Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) (respectively) in the past.

With a set pace attack backed by the spinning duo of Jadeja and Harbhajan and also by an enviable bating line-up comprising Watson, Rayudu, Raina, Dhoni, Billings, Bravo and last Tuesday’s match-winner Faf du Plessis, CSK boats a very strong team indeed.  Dhoni’s immaculate handling of captaincy and his ever-increasing effective batting displays have added teeth to CSK’s amazing performances in this year’s IPL.

SRH relies heavily on Kane and Shikhar for a ‘perfect’ start at the top and the duo has invariably delivered on almost all the occasions.  Rashid and Shakib Al Hasan form a major spinning combination of spinners for SRH.  CSK has been unearthing batting heroes out of bowlers: Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur.  Ngidi, the South African pacer who joined CSK only during the second-round matches, has settled firmly and nicely into the team.

Spectators and CSK’s supporters feel that Ambati Rayudu, who failed unexpectedly in the last couple of matches, would come back to form with a huge innings for CSK on the D-Day on Sunday night.

Expect the unexpected on Sunday’s finale!

Players to watch-out for:

CSK: Watson, Rayudu, Dhoni, Raina, Deepak Chahar
SRH: Dhawan, Williamson, Shakib, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar