Author : Adam Admin | Created : 2021-07-01 16:07:00
On Friday October 15 2021 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the Chennai Super Kings played the Kolkata Knight Riders in a battle to win the IPL2021. At the beginning of the tournament, no one would have put money on the Kolkata Knight Riders to even be in the final, having won only two out of seven games. However, they went on a winning streak, perhaps helped in part by the Covid-19 pandemic break, which was unceremoniously ended when they met the Chennai Super Kings in the final. The final score was Chennai Super Kings 192-3 165-9 Kolkata Knight Riders. That ended the nine years of misery from the Chennai Super Kings after their defeat in the 2012 IPL final at the hands of their rivals, the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The IPL or the Indian Premier League was initiated in 2008. It is an annual domestic Indian Twenty20 cricket tournament. The IPL Governing council, with the support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, organize the event. It is a hugely popular cricketing event and is the most viewed Twenty20 tournament in the world. The tournament consists of eight teams from eight cities across India who battle it out to be the IPL champions. So, far there have been fourteen tournaments. The Rajasthan Royals won the first competition in 2008 over the Chennai Super Kings. The latest victory was for the Chennai Super Kings. The Mumbai Indians are the most successful in the league so far, having won five out of the fourteen tournaments, followed closely by the Chennai Super Kings, who have four titles under their belt, after winning the IPL2021. In third place are the Kolkata Knight Riders, with two titles so far.
Each team plays twice, home and away in a double round-robin tournament format. At the end of the double round-robin stage, the four teams with the highest point play each other in the playoffs. The two teams with the highest points play in a Qualifier 1 match, and the winner automatically qualifies for the final. The other two teams compete in a match known as the Eliminator. The losing team is then eliminated, and the loser of the Qualifier one plays the winner of the Eliminator to see who plays in the final IPL match.
So far, thirteen teams have competed in the IPL, or which five can no longer compete. The Kochi Tuskers Kerala had their franchise terminated due to a breach of contract, and the Deccan Chargers were similarly terminated due to trying to back out of their commitments. Even the Chennai Super Kings were suspended for two years 2015 and 2016 due to some controversy around betting. So the league has a rather rich and controversial history and is still pretty much in its infancy.
Both teams have proved themselves as being two of the best teams in the IPL league. They are second and third, respectively, in terms of numbers of wins in the IPL, but have only met each other twice in an IPL final, in 2012 and 2021. The CSK are a pretty standard and consistently good team having been in nine of the fourteen IPL finals, despite having been banned for two years, as mentioned above. The KKR don’t have such as rich history to boast of, and can be rather erratic. You do not know what they are going to do. For the past seven years, they have not made a final, and even in this tournament, they appeared to be one of the losing teams. Their formula of erraticism and skill and make them a rather formidable opponent.
The last time these two teams met in a final 2021 team, the CSK were on a two-year winning streak, which started in 2010 against the Mumbai Indians. But the KKR denied them their hat-trick and beat them in a close-run game. The final result KKR 192/5 (19.4) CSK 190/3 (20). This turned out to be one of the most painful losses that the CSK had ever felt, and for a good reason, being denied a third win and with such a close score too, that has got to hurt. So the heat was really on this year with the CSK feeling they had something to prove and the KKR having steamrollered out of nowhere. It was set to be an epic match.
The CSK and KKR have played each other head to head 27 times now. They have never drawn a game or had a no result. One of them has always won. The CCK are on top with 18 of the 27 wins, including the most recent IPL2021 final match. This makes the CSK the better team on paper.
The most popular player of the teams are as follows:
Suresh Raina has the highest individual score and the most runs and is also considered to be one of the best fielders in international cricket. He is a left-handed batsman who has an aggressive style and can also turn his hand to spin bowling.
Srikkanth Anirudh has the best batting average on the team and was born in Chenna, India. He is an attacking opening batsman and has been playing top-end cricket since 2003 when he was a meter 16 years old.
Justin Kemp is a South African cricketer who has the best economy rate. He is a fast-right armed bowler and a middle-order batsman.
Manvinder Bisla has the highest individual score on the team and is a wicket-keeper and a right-handed batsman.
Ryan ten Doeschate was a dutch-south African cricketer and has won the prestigious ICC Associate Player of the Year award on three separate occasions. He is an all-rounder who has a right-arm medium-fast bowling style and is a right-handed batsman.
Brendon McCullum has the most ruins for the team and was captain of many trams. He played as a wicket-keeper and was a right-arm medium-speed bowler.