Look-forward-to games in the king of international cricket leagues seldom produce edge-of-the-seat watching, and that's how it seemed after Chennai were 84 for six
Krunal Pandya
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After Saturday night's match, I've been searching the dictionary for the craziest alternative to the word crazy. Look-forward-to games in the king of international cricket leagues seldom produce edge-of-the-seat watching, and that's how it seemed after Chennai were 84 for six. The first two balls of the 19th over sealed it for CSK, gave them the belief that, yes, this is possible.
My other observations from Game 1:
* Krunal Pandya didn't bowl a single over. How come? To me, this was the most important miss of the game. He should have been brought on from the other end as soon as Mayank Markande tasted blood.
* The IPL is truly a theatre for young talent. Markande has a couple of googlies, but does he have a leggie? Time will tell.
* Mustafizur, The Fizz, is too good a bowler to be kept out, but he looked nervous; dare I say overawed too on his MI debut.
* Watto refuses to go away into the sunset. He's a key man for Chennai and he bowls an un-hittable length especially to the Indian batsmen — eight inches ahead of 3/4th and then there is his bounce. All this underlines the fact that he was a great buy at the auction. Fine move by Captain Cool!
£ Bhajji looked good and needs to be at the top of his game for Chennai to do well. He has always bowled in the first six and the death overs for MI and I think that's the main reason why CSK bought him.
* Rohit looks hungry, and I hope he keeps opening the batting through the tournament. By opening the batting he is more likely to bat for longer periods and this is an advantage in both batting first and second. It will also let the MI captain dictate the flow of the game
* Mahi's got a few tricks up his sleeve, opening with Rayudu being the biggest experiment. Mark Wood bowling in the middle was another experiment.
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