The Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) has reached its climax as Chennai Super Kings take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the final of the mega event in Dubai on Friday. CSK led by MS Dhoni are looking to win the title for the fourth time while Eoin Morgan's KKR are aiming to become the third team to win the league thrice. Both teams are in good form ahead of the final and have a number of match winners who can create the difference on the big day. The outfits will depend heavily on their in-form openers for a good start. CSK's Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been paragons of consistency while the young KKR duo of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer have given their team a flying start on several occasions.
The bowling also looks strong with several key players doing well in the business end of the tournament. While it is very difficult to pick a winner on current form, former England captain Michael Vaughan has decided to bite the bullet. Vaughan on Friday took to Twitter and picked Chennai Super Kings as the team that he thinks would come out on top in Dubai.
He also picked a 'Man of the Match' for the final and his choice is CSK all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
"As all my predictions this year have been spot on .. I think @ChennaiIPL will win the Final today .. Man of the match will be @imjadeja #IPL2021Final," Vaughan wrote on Twitter.
Both teams have contested against each other 24 times. CSK have emerged victorious on 16 of those occasions, with KKR winning the remaining eight.
CSK have won four of the last five fixtures against KKR. In Match 15 of IPL 2021, KKR were blown away by the CSK brigade by 18 runs. In the return fixture, CSK again walked away victorious by two wickets.
KKR though have won the only time the two teams contested an IPL final. Gautam Gambhir-led KKR beat Dhoni's team in the final of IPL 2012.