Find out team news, TV and streaming information, odds, weather forecasts and much, much more ahead of the second game of the new Indian Premier League season
Chennai Super Kings take on Delhi Capitals in the second game of the 2021 IPL.
The game is scheduled for 7.30pm IST (3pm BST) on Friday, April 10, 2021.
Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium will stage the game.
Serial title-challengers Chennai Super Kings endured an unusually poor campaign in 2020, with Suresh Raina missing the entire competition and an ageing squad struggling to compete.
Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, are a franchise on the up under the stewardship of coach Ricky Ponting. They were beaten finalists last time around and look primed to be strong once again.
Dafabet have Delhi Capitals as the favourites at 8/13, with CSK available at 5/4 for the win.
Another bet with winning potential for Delhi Capitals is in the market for most sixes in the match. Delhi are available at 19/20. With Rishabh Pant seemingly in the form of his life and the Wankhede Stadium a popular haven for six-hitters, they will back themselves to clear the ropes regularly.
Chennai, under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, will be reliant on a predominantly experienced top order for their runs. Dafabet have former South Africa Test skipper Faf du Plessis as the 5/2 favourite to top-score for his side.
Delhi Capitals have plenty of local talent at their disposal. Even beyond Pant, captaining in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who suffered a shoulder injury against England last month, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav represent perhaps the strongest Indian core of any of the eight franchises.
However, it will be worth watching Steve Smith, signed at the auction after his release from Rajasthan Royals. He endured a lean campaign last year and it was something of a surprise to see him snapped up by a rival franchise. It will be intriguing to see how one former Australia captain fares under another.
For Chennai Super Kings, it is always worth keeping an eye on Dhoni, the brilliant wicketkeeper-batsman-captain whose influence on Indian cricket has been immense over so long. Whether those powers are on the wane, however, this campaign will provide a sizeable clue.
Likewise, Raina. The left-hander missed last season’s competition and returns to a team in desperate need of his runs. They struggled to replace his consistency in 2020, with only Sam Curran – ranked 38th on the T20 Player Index – truly enhancing his reputation in Chennai yellow.
Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood has opted out of the tournament in a major blow for Chennai, who will also be without fellow fast bowler Lungi Ngidi until the conclusion of his international commitments with South Africa.
Moeen Ali, whose signing remedies last year’s lack of an experienced finger-spinner, could well come into the side at the top of the order.
Like Ngidi, Delhi Capitals are also without their South Africa stars for their season opener: Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje will only be available from the second match onwards.
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel could also miss out, having tested positive for Covid-19.
The two teams have played each other 23 times.
Chennai Super Kings wins: 15
Delhi Capitals wins: 8
Temperatures of around 33 Celsius with the humidity in the 50s. There is hardly any chance of rain.
No, this match will be played behind closed doors owing to the Covid-19 situation in India.
It is difficult to look beyond Delhi Capitals, even with the captaincy of Rishabh Pant a slight unknown. He is up against the master in MS Dhoni, but Chennai Super Kings showed little last year to suggest they are likely to outdo Ricky Ponting’s impressive Delhi side.
IPL TEAM GUIDES
Sky Sports have the rights in the United Kingdom.
You can aso stream the tournament using the Disney+ Hotstar digital platform, though the matches are only available for VIP or Premium subscribers.
Star Sports have the television rights in India.
Streaming service YuppTV have acquired digital streaming rights in a host of markets, including Australia, continental Europe, Malaysia, Southeast Asia with the exception of Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Central Asia, and Central and South America.
In the USA, the games will be broadcast on Willow TV and the Willow TV website. Fox Sports have the broadcasting rights in Australia, while Supersport will televise the games in South Africa. In the Caribbean, Flow TV have the rights.
The following broadcasters owning the rights for their respective regions:
Bangladesh: Channel 9
Afghanistan: Lemar TV
Malaysia: Measat
MENA/UAE: BeIN Sport
Hong Kong: Now TV
Singapore: SingTel
New Zealand: Sky Sport
Papua New Guinea: EMTV
Chennai Super Kings squad: Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Narayan Jagadeesabn, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, M.Harisankar Reddy, K.Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishaanth, R Sai Kishore
Delhi Capitals squad: Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes, Anrich Nortje, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Lukman Hussain Meriwala, M Siddharth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Pravin Dubey, Vishnu Vinod
CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir
Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, R Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
Our coverage of the IPL is brought to you in association with Dafabet India. For more on Dafabet and to place a bet, click here
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.