Visakhapatnam: Delhi Capitals (DC) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are set to confront each other in the Qualifier 2 at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Friday. MS Dhoni-led CSK lost to Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 1 on Tuesday but they will get the second and last chance to reach the final.
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In the eliminator, DC defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday to set their Qualifier 2 clash with the Chennai based franchise.
DC, who have never played an IPL final, will face an uphill task against three-time champions CSK.
On Friday, CSK would look to fix their weakness while DC would look to be more consistent with the batting.
Team news
CSK
The defending champions CSK suffered a major blow when they were defeated by MI by six wickets. All-rounder Kedar Jadhav's injury amplified their woes. Since World Cup bound Jadhav has been ruled out from rest of the IPL season CSK included Murali Vijay in their playing XI against MI and would likely to go with the opener against DC.
However, their major concern will be batting which was restricted for mere 131 for 4. MI effected early dismissals that weakened their run flow. Dhoni's unbeaten 37 and Ambati Rayudu's 42 not out helped the side to set a below-par target for MI.
Shane Watson once again failed to connect the ball and perished early while Suresh Raina was caught and bowled by Jayant Yadav after he played reckless shot in the air.
Dhoni, in the post-match press conference, admitted that his batsmen failed to read the slow Chepauk track and were dismissed cheaply.
DC
Ever since Delhi changed its name they have seen an upsurge in their performance. The key reason behind their rise is a well-balanced team and the presence of coach Ricky Ponting and advisor Sourav Ganguly.
Shreyas Iyer's captaincy and team management's faith on youngsters Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant made DC looking for a formidable side in the ongoing season of IPL.
Till date, Delhi have not played an IPL final. This time around they have the best possible chance to make a cut in the summit clash of the cash-rich tournament.
Their familiarity with Vizag will boost their confidence. In the eliminator, they chased down a 163 runs target against Sunrisers Hyderabad with one-ball to spare as Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan gave them a flying start. Later, Pant's 21-ball 49 took Delhi home.
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However, in the build-up to their CSK clash their inconsistency with the batting, especially in the middle order, will be their main headache.
Their batting order collapsed against SRH which was cured by Pant.
Predicted XI
DC: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Colin Munro, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Axar Patel, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult
CSK: Murali Vijay, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Faf du Plessis, Deepak Chahar
