Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings have had absolutely contrasting runs in IPL 2022 so far. Both the teams have played five matches so far. But while the Titans have won four of them, Chennai have lost four.
But both the teams are coming off wins in their respective last games and when they face off in Pune on Sunday, it will all boil down to who plays with more confidence.
Chennai, led by Ravindra Jadeja, of course need a victory more than Hardik Pandya’s Titans. But to achieve one, the defending champions will have to give more than their best because the Titans, despite being newcomers in the IPL world, are playing powerful cricket.
It is their bowling which has hurt Chennai more, though their spinners — Maheesh Theekshana and Jadeja — did well to earn the team its maiden win of the season, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, in their last outing. But the pace department does not inspire much confidence with the absence of Deepak Chahar. Chris Jordan and Dwayne Bravo have done well in patches, while left-armer Mukesh Choudhary is still taking his baby steps in top level cricket.
It is needless to say that Chennai’s fate will be in the hands of their bowlers as Titans boast of some good batsmen. Besides captain Hardik, Titans have Shubman Gill, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and Abhinav Manohar.
The Chennai batters will need to provide extra support to their bowling attack, but that will not be easy against a bowling attack that has Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan.
