CSK have been in seven IPL finals across the previous 9 seasons they featured in. (2008,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 and 2018) and won in 2010,2011 and 2018.

However, This time, CSK has to swim against the new wave of the Delhi Capitals, A team which has gone through almost all possible changes to have ultimately come thus far, After four failed attempts to cross the semifinal/ playoff hurdle, DC finally jumped over the bar by knocking out SRH in the eliminator, with a victory by a two-wicket margin in an epic thriller that went until the penultimate delivery .

With a huge potential of young Indian batting stars, In Shaw, Iyer, and Pant; Plus the experience of Dhawan, Delhi Daredevils are formidable at the moment! Overseas contingent filled with the likes of Munro, Ingram, Sherfane Rutherford, Boult and Morris is all capable of turning any match on his head on a given day. A possible return of Ingram may boost the XI.

It's only the tendency to fall apart in case if one wicket falls in the middle order, Is one area of Major concern in the Delhi camp, That has to be corrected immediately and they would hope the in-form Pant wouldn't perish at the wrong time after playing superlative knocks.

With the absence of Rabada, Boult and Ishanth have a huge role to fill up in the context of a knockout situation. CSK on the other hand, Have lost terribly in the first qualifier against MI at Chepauk by a six-wicket margin, After scoring just 131, Although the team lost just four wickets.

Consistent failures of the top order and shockingly dampened fielding efforts are putting additional pressure on the only performer who has outdone everybody in the unit (Dhoni ).

MS Dhoni is master of the endgame: 213 of his 405 runs this season have come from overs 18 to 20. Chris Morris is good at the death too: ten of his 13 wickets this IPL have come in overs 16 to 20. That match-up should get the South African in the XI. That and the fact that Dhoni hits every other Capitals bowler at a strike rate of 170 or more.

As far as bowling is concerned, A lot more could be expected from the spin trio, With due respect to the knockout scenario of the second qualifier. Deepak Chahar has to sharpen his skills to provide early breakthroughs, to begin with.

A change that could help CSK is, Santner in Watson's slot. However, This could not happen. It could become an injustice to the consistent Kiwi Player if he doesn't get to play, Even after making vital contributions to the team in the limited number of matches he got to play.

With only one match played at Vishakapatnam prior to this one, There may be another 160ish total being scored and chased down. The pitch may assist the pacers if they are clever enough to bowl with subtle changes of pace. Having defeated DC convincingly by 6 wickets and 80 runs in the league phase, CSK would look to repeat it for the third time in a row. 

It will be a cracker of a contest that would tempt the interest of the audience to see if DC really has the potential to overpower CSK, Just as Kings XI Punjab defeated CSK in the second qualifier on May 30, 2014, by 24 runs while defending a huge 226/6, Courtesy Sehwag's 122 (58) .

However, With an opportunity to reach one step closer to become the only team to defend the title twice, CSK wouldn't leave it to go out of reach.

On the whole, Its the penultimate step towards glory.

Match facts

Match Day: 10/5/2019, Friday 
Venue: Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vishakapatnam
Time, 7:30 P.M IST 

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 M Vijay, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Imran Tahir

Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Colin Ingram, 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Keemo Paul, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Chris Morris/ Trent Boult, 11 Ishant Sharma

-Kumaran Kumanan

Images Courtesy : IPLT20 BCCI