🏆🏏IPL 2021 Match 60 --Final Innings Between CSK vs KKR 🏏🏆

Who will write a new success story tonight? 

A classic clash between Kings & Knights ⭐️vs ⭐️

The glorious Finale of 2021 IPL is here. It is a game of tactics! 

Tonight a gripping tale is going to be written with all the class performers from both the sides! 

CSK defeated Delhi Capitals in the Qualifier 1 match by 4 wickets to seal a berth in the final. On the other hand, KKR defeated Delhi Capitals in the Qualifier 2 encounter to become the 2nd finalist of the tournament. Now, one team between CSK and KKR will clinch the IPL 2021 trophy.

9 matches and 3 Play-offs matches later, we finally have the two teams that shall play the much-coveted final of IPL 2021. While CSK defeated Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 1, KKR defeated RCB in Eliminator 1 and Delhi Capitals in qualifier 2 to book a place in the final. Shockingly, Delhi Capitals finished third after back-to-back losses in Playoffs. 

But what a turnaround this has been for Kolkata Knight Riders, who were reeling at the bottom of the table before the beginning of the second leg of IPL 2021. They had won only 2 matches from their initial 7 games, but won 7 of their next 9 matches to book a place in the final. Credit goes to the management on how they adapted their approach in the second half. 

For CSK, they were going great until the last 3 group stage matches. They had won 9 out of their first 11 matches, but lost the last three matches before winning the all-important Qualifier 1 against Delhi Capitals. With that win, CSK booked their 9th place in the final; the most by any team in IPL history.

Neutral😳 go kkr🥳 go csk

 Playing 11 for Kolkata Knight Riders

Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (C), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy & Shivam Mavi 

Playing 11 for Chennai Super Kings

Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C&WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar & Josh Hazlewood. 

Recent Venue Records --Stats- T20

Total Matches- 61

Matches won batting first- 34

Matches won bowling first- 26

Average 1st innings score- 144

Average 2nd innings score- 122

Highest total recorded- 211/3 (20 Ov) by SL vs PAK

Lowest total recorded- 71/10 (19 Ov) by KEN vs IRE

Highest score chased- 183/5 (19.4 Ov) by AFG vs UAE

Lowest score defended- 134/7 (20 Ov) by OMAN vs HK

~~~***~~~

Not invested in this match 😊 So may the best team win and play goes till the last over and we see an exciting match.

Hope for a thriller match

Thank you for posting thread after thread everyday and also for organising the prediction game Madhuri.👏🤗

I may not be able to watch the full match.

May the best team win.

Cheers..

Pitch report: Statistically, chasing looks to be the best bet. The last eight matches at this venue have been won by the chasing team. This pitch hasn't been used since game number one (19 September). Chennai put 156 on the board and they defended it. It looks an absolute belter, runs on the board might be just good enough," say Simon Doull and Matthew Hayden.

And to all the KKR fans, you guys deserve to hold your head high like no other. Made a captaincy change mid-season last year. Captain out of form. Lost five of the first seven league games. Injury concerns to team's most-trusted X-factor player. Against all odds, the team from Kolkata have bounced back ala their coach Brendon McCullum's skipping down the track to pacers. Brendon McCullum and Eoin Morgan are known to be the best of friends. Very often, they hop for a Guinness in the streets of London during their playing days at Middlesex. Morgan's admiration for B-Mac is no secret and the talk of "new England" in white ball cricket will have a fair few pages of McCullum in it. Tonight, it's all about making that dream come true. Did the coach-captain combo ever dreamt of something like this? Here's my good friend and colleague Pratyush Sinha with all the answers (link above) and a bit of Korbo-lorbo-Jeetbo love...

If you're a CSK fan, you don't need any extra context. I'm sure the wounds from last year still sting. Though the term "Definitely not" injected some hope and happiness, it was MSD's promise, after his team's last league game, that made the fans believe. "We'll come back strong, that's what we are known for," were MSD's exact words and they haven't just made a comeback, but have truly roared back like only they can. Having won five of the first seven games, CSK just needed to sustain the momentum in the UAE leg and despite losing their last three league games, the ultimate finisher showed up in the qualifier to steer his side into the third final in four years. Can he and his side finish off in style tonight?

The long wait ends tonight! Without a shadow of doubt, this is the longest waiting stretch in an IPL season between it's first and last game. 

At one point, there were serious doubts over the resumption of the second half. 

And a couple of days into the second half, hope almost got stuck into cul-de-sac after a player got tested Covid positive.

 If you think being an anxious spectator is tough, imagine being an organiser of this high-octane league where money and minutes share the most complicated relationship in the world. 

Sigh, isn't all the wait from April to October, worth it?  

There was an unmissable glint in MS Dhoni's eyes as his side made another IPL final. It had been such a week for him that a little emotion was warranted. He went from a lifeless 18 off 27 against Delhi Capitals amidst a season of diminishing batting returns, to a 6-ball 18 against the same side in the first qualifier, that invoked fair shouts of #Vintage.

The 180-degree turn in Dhoni's batting returns was, if anything, the microcosm of CSK's entertaining end to this 2018-2021 cycle. 2020 triggered conversation of CSK being a spent force, laying out the carpet for Mumbai Indians to run away with all the plaudits for being the most successful IPL franchise ever. But here they are, just one big performance away from narrowing the IPL title deficit to just one.

Also on the cusp of penning a thrilling redemption story of their own are Kolkata Knight Riders. Since the eliminator appearance at the start of this cycle in 2018, KKR have largely had to play catch-up because of indifferent starts to the season in 2019 and 2020 - and on both occasions falling agonizingly short of a top-four finish.

Ahhhh I'm so excited 🤩🤩🤩