Matthew Hayden feels that getting Virat Kohli out in powerplay will boost CSK’s chance of winning
The IPL 2024 will kick off with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking each other on at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. Ahead of the IPL opener, Hayden had a word of advice for RuturajGaikwad and co.
“One thing is for certain: it’s a blockbuster showdown. Virat Kohli this year is going to be celebrated across all the games. His record is a 30 average at Chepauk Stadium with a strike rate of 111. You know what that means? For someone like Virat, even the greatness of Virat has been reduced in terms of his overall performance at that venue.
“It is a tricky venue to bat at, especially as an opening batsman. It gets a weird tennis ball bounce; it’s quite slow and difficult to play shots early. But the longer you bat, the game opens up, and that’s where Virat can be at his most dangerous. If he is prepared to bat the 20 overs, he can put together a match-winning performance,” said Hayden.
“200 is very accessible at Chinnaswamy but not necessarily at Chepauk Stadium. A 150, 130 at times has been plenty of runs when you get guys as good as Jadeja there who bowls stump to stump with the odd ball to turn and the odd ball that stays low, it’s really tricky, so they’re going to need Virat Kohli out early inside the powerplay. They’ve done so three times over the last five innings, and they’ll need to do so for the fourth time,” Hayden added.