Hardik Pandya on MS Dhoni: You need to be a proper devil to hate | Cricket News – Times of India

<p>The astute tactician in MS Dhoni will dig deep into his reserves to counter Indian cricket’s new ‘Crown Prince’ Shubman Gill as four-time champions Chennai Super Kings will meet their match in current title holders Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 of the IPL in Chennai on Tuesday.<br /><br /></p>

<p>Gill, who almost single-handedly knocked out a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore with a century for the keeps, has overshadowed Virat Kohli and will certainly force one of India’s greatest captains to go back to drawing board and make plans for him.<br /></p>

<p>Gill is in the midst of a dream season and what will be Dhoni’s tactical ploy to stop the dashing ‘Mohali Marauder’ is there to be seen.<br /></p>

<p>This season, Gujarat Titans haven’t played at the Chepauk, which hasn’t behaved in a singular manner during CSK’s seven home games and that prompted head coach Stephen Fleming to raise apprehensions about what to expect.<br /></p>

<p>What makes this battle even more interesting is the fact that GT is a team that seems closest to being a proto-type of what CSK had been all these years in IPL.<br /></p>

<p>A captain, who swears that his understanding of leadership is cut from Dhoni’s ‘captaincy cloth’, and head coach Nehra, who just like his former teammate doesn’t believe in too many changes even if a couple of games go wrong.<br /></p>

<p>So, it becomes more interesting when two teams with similar philosophy are pitted against each other. The teams which don’t make long-term promises that are difficult to fulfill but focus on immediate process and know the roles of players required for slots.<br /><br /></p>

<p>For Gujarat, tackling the slowness of the Chepauk track will be a challenge and how well they negotiate Deepak Chahar’s powerplay overs and Matheesha Pathirana’s slingers at the back-end, will determine the outcome of the match.<br /></p>

<p>GT skipper Pandya and Ashish Nehra will find Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka’s inputs handy as he has handled both Pathirana and spinner Maheesh Theekshana for the national team.<br /></p>

<p>While Shanaka might be used more as an all-rounder, GT depending on the toss can also try out left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, who knows these conditions well.<br /></p>

<p>For CSK, a good start by the crack pair of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad will be important. But at the Chepauk, even Ajinkya Rahane could become a factor while Shivam Dube would love to add to his 33 sixes for the season.<br /><br /></p>

<p>With GT bowling led by Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan (24 wickets each so far) things won’t be easy for the home team’s batters. How the CSK opening duo handles the relentless Shami may prove vital and it would be important for the under-performing middle-order to step up in a crunch game.<br /><br /></p>

<p>If a sluggish pitch is rolled out for the match, the spinners in the two teams would have a huge part to play. If CSK has Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Theekshana, the GT boast of a line-up that includes Rashid and Noor Ahmad.<br /><br /></p>