IPL 2023 final: History favours M S Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings over Gujarat Titans?

HYDERABAD: As the thrills and frills of the event-filled Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season comes to an exciting end, M S Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings will fight it out with defending champions, Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans, in the final at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday night, May 28, 2023.

The stakes are equally high for both Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings that finished in the top two positions respectively of the points table of IPL 2023. Like last year, Gujarat Titans reached the pinnacle with an impressive 20 points, having won 10 out of its 14 matches in the league phase. This was a highly gratifying accomplishment for a team which has made its debut only in 2022. Starting as minnows and led by India’s all-rounder Hardik Pandya, the Gujarat team took the league by storm and scripted history by winning the title in its very first season last year, something that no other team could achieve in the world’s most popular T20 league.

By only losing in four outings this season and notching up an unassailable position in points tally, GT proved that its last year’s escapades were no mere flash in the pan.

On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings, led by its talismanic leader M S Dhoni, erased the nightmares of the 2022 IPL season by turning up well on the field consistently well throughout the 2023 edition. Despite a few hiccups in the middle phase, the charismatic Chennai team, marshalled efficiently by its ‘Captain Cool’, scored 17 points with eight wins and five defeats besides a rain-abandoned match for which it shared the points with Lucknow Super Giants. As luck would have it, CSK prevailed over LSG – which also garnered 17 points – with a better run rate to stay in the second spot on the points table.

In the Qualifier 1 of the playoffs held at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium last week, Chennai Super Kings managed to defeat a formidable Gujarat Titans to go straight to this Sunday’s final. In the subsequent Eliminator, five times champions Mumbai Indians trounced last year finalists Lucknow Super Giants in what turned out to be a one-sided affair.

In the Qualifier 2 held at the Narendra Modi Stadium of Ahmedabad last Friday, Gujarat Titans pulverised the Mumbai Indians with a dominant show and showed why it can never be written off at any stage. Aided by a blistering century (129 of just 60 balls and studded with 10 sixes) by Shubman Gill, arguably one of India’s modern greats in the making, GT piled up a mammoth score of 233. With a mountain to climb, MI fought valiantly through Tilak Varma (43 of 14), Suryakumar Yadav (61 of 38) and Cameron Green (30 of 20) but losing wickets at regular intervals, its innings folded up at 171 in 18.2 overs.

Bracing for the second successive IPL final in its own backyard (Narendra Modi Stadium), Gujarat Titans are confident of beating Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and retain the title. However, the home team will be wary of the fact that CSK, under MSD, can never be taken lightly as the visitors are eyeing their fifth IPL crown to equal the Mumbai Indians. Toss, in case of dewy on-field conditions, is likely to prove to be the key as the team winning toss may opt to bowl first. But the recent history of matches, towards the fag end of the league phase and the playoff stage, proves this only as a myth as the teams that batted first registered comfortable victories.

It is also going to be an exciting contest between the potent spin attack of the GT, spearheaded by Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed, and the long list of southpaws in the CSK’s batting order. Although CSK is expected to play the same eleven, looking to smartly use the impact player option, there is some excitement in some quarters on the possibility of Dhoni’s think tank throwing Ben Stokes into the mix. As per recent reports, the dashing all-rounder from England is back to his full fitness and is raring to go. Stokes could be CSK’s most likely trump card if the visitors decide to unleash the destructive all-rounder, who has the reputation of winning matches single-handedly for his national side on several occasions.

All this apart, CSK will also be emboldened by this small piece of trivia from history and take it for added inspiration. Exactly, on this day in 2011, MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings became the first IPL team to defend their title by trouncing Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final by 58 runs. Whether this will inspire the CSK to pocket yet another title or the GT which is looking strong to retain its title will be known in just a few hours.