For the first time in the IPL’s history of being hosted in India, all 8 teams will play no matches at their home venues and have been assigned neutral venues through the tournament!
We take a look at the impact of this decision today on MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings who start their campaign in Mumbai.
IPL 2021 is now set to take place from the 9th of April to the 30th of May across India and will start behind closed doors with a decision on whether to allow fans into the stadiums to be taken at a later stage in the tournament. With our nation still battling the effects of the Covid19 pandemic and with the rising numbers now, that possibility is seeming bleak. The one never-seen-before twist to the schedule is that of neutral venues, which could have a massive impact on the success of certain teams and therefore on the results of the overall tournament too.
Matches at each Venue for each IPL team
Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata will now host 10 matches each in the league phase while Ahmedabad and New Delhi will host eight matches each. The playoffs and Finals are set to be held at the new Theatre of Dreams of Indian Cricket, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
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MS Dhoni & CSK have traditionally looked at Spin-to-Win and suddenly find themselves playing 5 games at the pacy Wankhede stadium and also other venues where high scores are a must. CSK have a win % of over 70 at their fortress of Chepauk, by far the best for any team at home, and therefore will sorely miss their conditions as they play their first five games in Mumbai and have just two days to move to Delhi where they play their next four games. Once their Delhi leg is over, they have just a day’s gap to fly to Bangalore and adapt to different conditions at Chinnaswamy, where they play their next 3 matches.
The Yellow brigade play 5 games at Mumbai and 3 at Bengaluru so it really is a question of whether they have the batting firepower to excel at these venues that need 200+ on a regular basis. Dhoni and his men play most of their games on traditionally flat tracks and play just 4 games at Delhi (where they have a 75% win percentage), which in many ways is the most similar to CSK’s home conditions at the Chepauk.
WIN % AT EACH VENUE | BANGALORE | KOLKATA | MUMBAI | DELHI |
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS | 55.50 | 50.00 | 45.00 | 75.00 |
CSK’s fans will take some solace from the fact that they’ve historically enjoyed played at the Wankhede with a 75% win percentage in the IPL since 2017 and they will hope to get their campaign off to a strong start when they start in Mumbai on the 10th of April vs last year’s runner’s up, the Delhi Capitals.
After a rough season in 2020, MSD will be hoping that with the return of Raina, the batting depth and a whole host of great all-rounders in the side, his contingent will be able to put a lot of smiles back on the Whistle Podu army of fans that have yellow running through their veins.
[Header Image Credit: Chennai Super Kings]
Suhail Chandhok
Vertical Head - Sports