Unbeaten teams aim to end each other's run

Sunday, April 19, 2015
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)

In-form batsmen aplenty. Bowlers not lacking in resilience. And captains who might well be cricket whisperers. Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals, on current form, is the contest of the IPL and the best case for the drawing board to gather dust. If only to keep from being reminded of the opposition's strengths.

MS Dhoni could write a begrudging best-seller about Steven Smith. If Brendon McCullum ever has second thoughts, it might be against Tim Southee. Ajinkya Rahane has weathered pace and spin alike during a long and fruitful overseas season, but he hasn't had to face R Ashwin's threat in the middle. This is a clash that hinges on margins and the team that colours inside the lines best would likely preserve their unbeaten record in this IPL.

Then there is the Shane Watson fitness watch. He has sat out of four matches to recover from a bruised hip and his return could help Royals fight fire with fire.

For Dwayne Smith and McCullum have been bulldozing attacks. Rahane and Sanju Samson have fared well in their own way as well, setting a base for the middle order to springboard from. Tactics seem too tight a fit to the respective teams' game plans so it is up to the bowlers to generate those quick strikes and force the opposition to adapt.

Ashish Nehra's first taste of top-flight cricket was in 1997 when he made his first-class debut. The 18 years since have zig-zagged, with the odd injury sprinkled in, but in the Super Kings set up he remains their best option at the death for one simple and important reason - his yorker. Now whether that proves as useful against a 360-degree batsman like Steven Smith or the uncannily effective James Faulkner will be interesting to see.

Since that 7 for 33 against England in the World Cup, Tim Southee's bowling average is a gruesome 72.71 in limited-overs cricket. But Royals prefer a home turf, which in this case would be Ahmedabad, that provides a little juice for their seamers and Southee is one of the best in the world at extracting the available help.

"We have some really good young bowlers - Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey - and with Bravo being our sixth bowler bowling 2-3 overs, it's a really good bowling unit."
Chennai Super Kings seamer Ashish Nehra