Gill ready to spoil Dhoni’s farewell party as defending champions take on four-time champs
Posted Date – Sun, 28 May 23 at 06:40 AM
Ahmedabad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni doesn’t mind “farewell to memories” but young Shubman Gill exudes grace and will do whatever it takes to stop the Chennai Super Kings from beating the Gujarat Titans here on Sunday for a fifth IPL title.
Nearly 19 summers ago, when young Dhoni took his first steps in India, four-year-old Gill stood on a sprawling field in the village of Fazilka in Punjab, on the border with Pakistan, holding a A handmade custom bat prepared by his doting grandfather.
On Sunday, at the 1,32,000-seat Narendra Modi Stadium, the soon-to-be 42-year-old Dhoni will wear his favorite Canary yellow jersey for one final mission – to stop Indian cricket’s waiting superstar and perform ” High five”. 300 and 851 runs don’t happen every season, but what is Dhoni’s strategy to control “Mohali Marauder” on batsmen in Motera? Was it Deepak Chahar’s swing or Ravindra Jadeja’s wicket-to-wicket bowling? Or Moeen Ali, who can be “the clown in the pack,” whose tantalizing flying deliveries off the stumps could bounce back sharply.
Can Matheesha Pathirana hit some sharp toe crushers? A technically near-perfect hitter against a captain known for jumping out of the box. It doesn’t get more exciting than that. His die-hard fans may want him back again next year, but even Dhoni, who has played all season with a serious left knee injury, may find it difficult to keep up with the demands of the shortest format.
So, for every “Thala” (brother in Tamil) fan, it’s all about savoring the Dhoni moment until it lasts. In this CSK setup, he could bat at No. 8 for most of the game, but came into the final with a bowling line that missed Deepak Chahar for most of the first half and had to send the profligate Tushar Deshpande turned into a reliable wicketkeeper.
Turn the inconsistent Shivam Dube into a six-bat bully, or oversee the comeback of T20 bowler Ravindra Jadeja, and Dhoni’s legend will live on forever. It will only grow, and his captaincy story will be cloaked in mythology decades later. They say familiarity breeds contempt, but when Dhoni and CSK face Hardik Padya’s titans, contempt will be the last word on their minds.
There is a ‘roaring lion’ on the CSK logo, but they will easily take the team off Gir Forest soil at their own peril. After 73 games, the two most consistent teams will meet at the summit. No team emulates the Chennai Super Kings structure and team-building ethos as meticulously as another team, the Gujarat Titans, where cricket decisions are based on sound logic, consistency, and without the interference of overbearing bosses.
Pandya has a captain who thinks there is only one way to lead. It is called “Mahi Way”. Batsmen win games, but bowlers win tournaments is an old adage, and tracking the Titans’ performance couldn’t be more appropriate. Mohammed Shami (28 wickets), Rashid Khan (27 wickets) and Mohit Sharma (24 wickets) often executed the scheme so it didn’t really affect the Titans, the second highest after Gill’s 851 runs The top scorer is skipper Hardik Pandya (325), more than 500 behind.
Wriddhiman Saha is a good goalkeeper and he will consider himself lucky that the team management never thought of replacing him despite his batting average of 127 and just over 50 runs in 16 overs. And here, Dhoni will try to take his chances. If they can get Gill early, none of the other batsmen have shown enough quality to fight and the bowlers need a decent total.
Under Dhoni, if players like Ajinkya Rahane (299 in 13 games, 50 twice) and Shivam Dube find their form this season, young bowlers such as Sri Lanka’s Pathirana (15 in 15) 17 wickets in 15 matches) and India’s uncapped Deshpande (21 wickets in 15 matches) were also able to gain a foothold in the IPL stage.
In CSK’s batting line-up, Devon Conway (625 in 15 games, 6 in 50) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (564 in 15 games, 4 in 50) have provided CSK with solid starts time and time again. Batsman Dube (386 in 15 games, 50 from 3) is CSK’s second-highest six-run batsman in this IPL with 33 sixes, and Gill is also on the list. With no clear favourites, this could be one of the best finals in IPL history.
