Delhi face uphill task for survival
An upbeat Chennai will take on Delhi in what should be a decisive clash ahead of the semi-finals.

By Aditya Ramachandran

MS Dhoni’s men are undoubtedly on a roll after brushing aside Kolkata without any fuss at the Chepauk on Tuesday. Delhi, on the other hand, have had massive problems with their combination and the defeat against Mumbai has put the two-time semi-finalists in a fix.

Chennai have to live up to their pre-tournament favourites’ tag and for that to happen, the bowlers will have to maintain their good show. R Ashwin wrecked Kolkata’s batting order early in their match but the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan needs to get back into the groove.

The Sri Lankan off-spinner looked out of sorts against Kolkata and his four expensive almost threatened to spoil Ashwin’s good work in the third over of the innings.

Chennai have shored up well after early blemishes to currently occupy second place in the IPL rankings while Delhi have slipped downhill after looking certain to cruise to the semis.

The defeat against Mumbai must be weighing heavy on Gautam Gambhir’s mind- the margin also ruined Delhi’s net run-rate.

Both teams are placed at 12 points each and a win for Chennai will almost ensure them of a last-four spot. Delhi on their part, will have to win by a handsome margin to avoid any further hiccups.

The toss will play a crucial role at the Chepauk and reading the pitch correctly will almost be half the battle won. Another factor that Dhoni should be able to exploit is the fanatic home support- the crowd has been right behind the Yellows and visiting teams, including table-toppers Mumbai, have found it difficult to negate the huge support.

Though Delhi have the most destructive batting line-up in the third edition of the IPL- with Virender Sehwag, Gambhir and David Warner at the top- no one has been consistent so far.

Chennai have most of their batsmen in reasonably good touch with Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina leading the charge for the southern giants.

It should be a sizzling evening in the Chennai heat and if the visitors hit the right chord as well, the 50th match of IPL-3 should be a cracker.

Head to Head



Played: 5

Won by Chennai: 3 (winning % 60.00)

Won by Delhi: 2 (winning % 40.00)

Approaching Milestones:

- Virender Sehwag (948) needs 52 runs more to complete 1000 runs in the IPL. He would be the second batsman for Delhi to accomplish the feat. Gautam Gambhir (1036) is the only one to do so for Delhi.

- Dinesh Karthik (35) needs two dismissals to overtake Adam Gilchrist's tally of 36 dismissals in the IPL.

- Murali Vijay (387) requires 13 runs to complete 400 runs in the IPL-3. He would be the fourth to do so after Sachin Tendulkar (542), Jacques Kallis (528) and Suresh Raina (400).