IPL 2019 | There is lot of hype around IPL finals given CSK and MI are playing, says Rohit Sharma

The Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are the only sides in the history of the Indian Premier League to win three titles. This will be CSK’s record eighth appearance in the finals followed by MI’s fifth. In this edition, both the sides ended up with nine wins in 14 league stage matches but the Mumbai based franchise topped the table with a superior net run rate.

Although MI have defeated CSK in three out of three matches this season, the final is expected to be a tight clash. It has been generating a lot of hype, as pointed out by the MI skipper Rohit Sharma. 

“There is a lot of hype around the two teams [CSK and MI] and it is because they have been successful in winning the championship, everyone looks forward to the clash,” he said at a media interaction this morning, reported PTI.

MI would surpass CSK in terms of the maximum number of trophies if they manage to win today but the skipper dismissed any such discussions and remarked that the focus will be on the game.

“All those things will take care of themselves if we play good cricket. We need to focus on the day rather than thinking about the past. The focus will be on how we can play better cricket. We are treating it as another match like we have done earlier in the tournament,” expressed the 32-year-old.

The finals would be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Hyderabad. The wicket there favours pacer over spinners but more importantly, teams batting first have fared better here in this season. Out of seven games, teams batting first have scored in excess off 200 twice and have even won four games. It was here that MI defeated MS Dhoni’s Rising Pune Supergiant, which was lead by Steve Smith, back in 2017 but Rohit played down any advantage.

“It is a neutral venue. Both teams have played here so they are very much aware of the conditions. It is not going to be a major factor. Important will be to assess the pitch as quickly as we can, see what the ideal score will be if we bat first,” he said.

Rajasthan Royals finished at the seventh position on the points table but defeated the table-toppers on both the occasions. Citing to that example, Rohit reiterated the fact that MI don't have any advantage over the defending champions.

“I wouldn’t agree to that (CSK brings the best us). The tournament itself is the biggest challenge, every team is a threat. Rajasthan Royals did not quality but they beat us twice so we have to be good on that particular day,” he explained.

The World Cup is due to start on May 30 and India will play their first warm-up match on May 25, about two weeks after the finals of the cash-rich league. Naturally, there were talks of the workload management with the quadrennial event right around the corner and the India vice-captain spilled beans over the same.

“We spoke at the start of the tournament that we will assess each one of them and see where they are at and how they feel about their body as the tournament progresses. It is more of an individual thing than what we decided for them,” he reckoned.

The skipper also revealed that there was constant feedback taken from Jasprit Bumrah, who has played all the 15 matches, and Hardik Pandya, who has played all but one match.

“Like in Jasprit’s case, he is someone who likes to play games to make sure that he is in good rhythm. We spoke at any given stage, if he feels the need to rest, we were open for it. Our physios have monitored him quite well. There was constant feedback from Jasprit as well. So far there are no issues with either of them – Hardik or Jasprit. It has to come from them and they want to continue playing,” Rohit explained.

“How their form is the most important thing, they are really doing well. Anyone who plays the IPL and goes to a big tournament [like the World Cup] I feel it keeps them very much in touch with their game. It is a great tournament to hit form. Hardik is one example. He was injured before the IPL, missed few games as well [for India], now he has done tremendously well for us. You can judge yourself where you are ahead of a big tournament like the World Cup,” he added.