Injury scare for Chennai skipper Ruturaj: Dhoni may lead CSK against Delhi Capitals

Gaikwad suffered a blow on his unprotected elbow against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati last Sunday, and the CSK skipper remains doubtful for the contest against Delhi Capitals

Chennai: Noor Ahmed’s guile will meet its perfect match in Kuldeep Yadav’s artistry as two wrist spinners will drive the narrative in a match where Chennai Super Kings could be led by MS Dhoni in place of injured Ruturaj Gaikwad against Delhi Capitals here on Saturday.

Gaikwad suffered a blow on his unprotected elbow against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati last Sunday, and the CSK skipper remains doubtful for the contest against the visitors.

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It will be an afternoon game in the sapping Chennai heat, and the kind of tracks on offer will certainly make it a 50-50 match. Kuldeep, with an economy rate of 5.25, is the best in terms of quality among the four spinners expected to be in action during the game.

Afghanistan spinner Noor has so far got nine wickets at an equally impressive economy rate of 6.83, and he can certainly prove to be a handful during the middle overs with balls expected to grip the surface.

It will be an engaging contest as both wrist spinners are very different in nature. While Noor bowls at a quicker pace and mostly takes the ball away from the right-handers, wily customer Kuldeep has perfected the art of using the angles of the crease and varying the pace of his deliveries.

In case of Noor, the trajectory is flatter, while Kuldeep gives the ball more air while also changing his arm speed as per the requirement.

In terms of batting, DC will certainly hold a slight advantage with the middle-order having a bit more firepower this year with the presence of Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj

Nigam and the seasoned KL Rahul, who is expected to play with lot more freedom given that there are no captaincy burden on him in his new franchise.

For CSK, the diminishing returns of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is no more the finisher he was, is an issue.

Save Shivam Dube, CSK do not have players who can belt bowlers at a strike-rate between 180 to 200 during the back-10 if they are chasing a score of 180 plus.

Opener Rahul Tripathi, who has been a sought-after utility man for various teams at the top of the order, hasn’t exactly looked comfortable against top-quality pace bowling in the matches so far.

Tripathi has failed to justify Dhoni’s move to play him as an opener and drop Ruturaj Gaikwad one slot below, despite the regular skipper’s proven record at the start of the innings.

That CSK isn’t convinced with Tripathi is evident after the team management called up 17-year-old Mumbai opener Ayush Mhatre, who has already played for India U-19 and scored first-class centuries in the last edition of Ranji Trophy.

In case of DC, the challenge for its batters while playing at Chepauk will be way more compared to what they faced on good batting tracks at Visakhapatnam. They successfully chased down targets in both games in Vizag.

The presence of Faf du Plessis in the DC ranks can be worth its weight in gold as his experience of playing multiple seasons for CSK and the knowledge of conditions will help youngsters like Jake-Fraser McGurk, Tristan Stubbs and Abhishek Porel, who form the core of the batting line-up.

Fraser-McGurk has issues while tackling spinners, and it would be interesting if Ravichandran Ashwin, who hasn’t exactly looked in his best rhythm (99 runs in 10 overs so far), could test the young Australian during the Powerplay overs.

The head-to-head record between DC and CSK at Chepauk is overwhelmingly in favour of the home team, which has won seven out of the nine matches.

However, the current DC team under the mentorship of Kevin Pietersen looks an engaging unit which would aim to turn the tables on an over-the-hill franchise caught between their set template and the game’s evolving patterns.