Absence of Dhoni Dulls Chepauk Atmosphere as Sunrisers Dominate Royals

On Friday night, the Chepauk lacked the usual excitement. The DJ was spinning hit Tamil songs as the music was blaring, but there was no zing.

The steam, the crackling of crickets, the burst of energy—all of that was present, yet something was noticeably absent. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's imposing presence, or lack thereof, at the Chennai Super Kings' fort does matter greatly.

While there weren't an excessive number of vacant seats, CSK's home matches lacked the energy of their fan base. As the two teams fought for a spot in the championship game, there was never any crazy celebration or emotional connection.

In the opening session, as the Rajasthan Royals tied down the Sunrisers Hyderabad hitters in knots, the crowd cried out "C-S-K, C-S-K," maybe out of habit. The crowd did not participate loudly in the carnival, despite the DJ's best efforts.

Even though the Royals' flags well outnumbered Sunrisers', the fans' unspoken disappointment at not seeing CSK in the playoffs persisted.

But the Kolkata Knight Riders were unable to take a break. When the game began, the players and support personnel were enjoying a team supper, but they were kept engaged by events occurring in another area of the city. After casting his vote, coach Gautam Gambhir, who was in Delhi, is anticipated to return prior to their Saturday night practise.

However, that shouldn't have prevented him from formulating strategies for the championship match. The 36-run comeback victory by Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday over Rajasthan Royals ought to wake people up.

Master strategist Pat Cummins will be facing the Knights, and extra precautions will need to be taken in this match. The Royals had to learn their lessons the hard way after dropping five of their six games that were finished in May.

As anticipated, there was no dew, and the Sunrisers spinners—mostly part-timers—took full advantage of the circumstances to slow down the pursuit. The dry surface allowed for spin, and in the middle overs, left-arm spinners Shahbaz Ahmed (3/23) and Abhishek Sharma (2/24) swung the balance in favour of the Sunrisers.

The Royals' four wicket losses for 14 runs affected their needed run rate, making the 176-run target appear absurd. After Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, and Yashasvi Jaiswal left, the Royals were done for.

The way things turned out will teach KKR a lesson and raise red flags. Granted, it had been almost a month and a half since Shreyas Iyer's team had last competed at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

The ball had been gripping, so Cummins attempted to take advantage of the situation by using Abhishek's left-arm spin, and it succeeded. Bengal's spinning all-rounder Shahbaz replied admirably, dismissing both Parag and Ravichandran Ashwin in a single over.

Because of the domination of the spinners, Sunrisers bowled 55 dot balls, which ended up being the winning difference between the two sides.

The Sunrisers' bats will be more experienced on Sunday after their experience on Friday. Heinrich Klaasen, who reached his half-century off 33 balls, was unable to force the pace even with his powerful swing. It was Rahul Tripathi's 37 off 15 that gave the Powerplay overs impetus.

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