Week 10 - Semi Final 1 - Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab

Welcome to the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, home of the Chennai Super Kings.

Pitch Conditions: A good batting pitch but will become slower as the game goes on. Some bounce throughout for the slower bowlers. Batsman should look forward to the challenges of this pitch.

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Please post tactics below...

Toss could be crucial here i think...

Should suit Ashwin given his height. Likewise Afridi, so he will be playing.

Good pitch.

i do think the pitch slightly favours chennai however dosent mean that they will get my vote, i need to see tactics sides toss etc (as per usual ) lol.

Advantage of a home semi final at the MA where it is known to favour spinners

Yeah nice added little bonus for the batsmen too, home conditions.

well I pushed Chennai reasonably hard in the group stages on a similar sort of pitch, so I'll be looking to improve on that here. Probable XI

Gambhir
Kieswetter
KP
Umar Akmal
Ganguly
RTD
Chitnis
Bresnan
Rahul Sharma
Nehra/Yadav/Bipul Sharma
Karthik

though I'm mulling over a couple of things selection-wise.

or possibly make a somewhat crazy gamble, and promote RTD to open the batting. He's just made a hundred there (in domestic T20). This could free up a space for Collingwood, who's a terrific player of spin and whose cutters could be useful on here, thus:

Gambhir
RTD
KP
Umar Akmal
Collingwood
Chitnis
Bresnan
Saini
Bipul Sharma/Nehra
Rahul Sharma
Karthik

Probably go with Bipul Sharma in that case, not sure Nehra is suited to this pitch.

Mad? possibly, but I'm going to need to try something a little different here. It will be important to manage Bresnan's overs well too, might get a short first spell and bring him straight back on at Raina for instance...

Drop KP....

Kings XI team:

Gambhir
Ten Doeschate
Pietersen
Umar Akmal
Collingwood
Chitnis
Bresnan
Saini
Bipul Sharma
Rahul Sharma
Murali Karthik

selection: Taking a gamble here by dropping Kieswetter, as we expect CSK to go in with lots of spinners, and Kieswetter isn't the best player of spin, nor does he enjoy the slower pitches. Collingwood comes in, his experience of the big occasions (captained the world cup winning T20 side) should serve us well. Our bowling attack is spin-dominated, and tall leggie Rahul Sharma (who comfortably outbowled opposite number Ashwin on his ODI debut) shoudl love the bounce on offer.

Toss: bat first, get runs on the board and suffocate CSK's run chase (once again, Dhoni and Hussey aside, they aren't great chasers).

Batting tactics:
RTD moves up to open, where he's recently made a T20 hundred, and will look to attack from the off, as the new ball is probably the best time to bat on here. My batting order is packed with world class players of spin, with Gambhir, KP, Akmal and Collingwood all masters. Then we have the late-order hitting of Chitnis, Bresnan, Saini and Bipul Sharma to boost us to a large total.

Bowling tactics:
Bipul Sharma and Bresnan share the new ball, with Rahul Sharma introduced quickly into the attack. Bresnan will be brought back for a one over burst when Raina comes in, and will target him with the short ball. Middle-over duties will be shared by Collingwood, RTD, Karthik and Rahul Sharma, and on a slowing pitch will look to suffocate the CSK batting line-up. Bresnan and Karthik finish off at the death.

Over allocation:
Bipul Sharma (1,3,5)
Bresnan (2,12 (for instance),18,20)
Rahul Sharma (4,6,14,16)
Karthik (8,10,17,19)
Collingwood (11,13,15)
RTD (7,9)

Sorry for the delay guys, likely be with you saturday when I clear my entire backlog of 606v2 things on my 'to do' list,

Chennai Super Kings

Vijay
Mike Hussey
MS Dhoni
Raina
Badrinath
Srikkanth
Shahid Afridi
Tim Southee
Sharma
Saeed Ajmal
Ajantha Mendis

Toss: Bat first, get a defendable total and let the spin trio strangle the life out of the Kings innings.

Bowling: Ashwin makes way in this game. A great bowler, but I don't feel he has the same guile that is provided by probably the three best T20 spinners in the world in Ajmal, Mendis and Afridi. In comes Sharma to open the bowling alongside Tim Southee. After a couple of overs apiece (replaced by Ajmal if one takes a bit of stick in their first) the spinners will take hold and strangle the life out of the Kings innings. Masters of varying pace, flight and turn the Afridi Ajmal and Mendis trio should be an intimidating prospect.

Sharma will bowl out in the middle overs, keeping things tight with slower balls and cutters mixed in, with the innings being concluded by Southee bowling fast yorkers and Ajmal and Mendis bowling one apiece at the death.

Batting: Vijay and Hussey open, with Vijay being the more aggressive of the two and Hussey being his busy self and punishing the bad balls. Dhoni again bats at 3, given the nature of the pitch. With time to get himself in if necessary, he has scope to build toward the pyrotechnics. Raina, Badrinath and Srikkanth will be aggressive, with Shahid Afridi ready to come in and really tee off at the conclusion of the innings. Southee and Sharma are capable of sending the ball out of the park if it gets that far.

Sharma capable of sending the ball out of the park? bigging up, much?

He has a very decent T20 strike rate of around 115, and an average of 14 isnt at all bad for a specialist bowler. I've seen him a few decent swings.