What’s the first word that comes to your mind when someone mentions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or Mumbai Indians (MI)? This was the question asked to cricketers of both the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams ahead of their high-octane clash this evening, as the tournament resumes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The answers ranged from “blockbuster” to “rivals”, “powerhouse” to “competitive”. The official Instagram handle of CSK had put up the post, asking the question, and captioned it, “Respect. Rivalry.” However, two MI cricketers – Suryakumar Yadav and Krunal Pandya – steered clear of adjectives and, instead, mentioned the name of their teammate, Kieron Pollard.
Suryakumar, however, also added “fierce competitors”, before calling out to Pollard, “Polly! Quickly!” As Pollard came into the frame, Suryakumar held his hand and said, “When I think about Chennai Super Kings, I think about him”, and raised Pollard’s hand.
If you’re wondering why Pollard, here’s the answer – in the first leg if IPL 2021 in India, the West Indies cricketer led a brutal assault against CSK, scoring an unbeaten 87 off 34 balls. When Pollard came to the crease, Mumbai were struggling at 81-3, chasing a daunting target of 219. He smashed six boundaries and eight sixes, and scored 16 runs in the final over to pull off one of the most spectacular chases in the IPL and guided MI to a famous win.
When Pollard was asked the question, he compared the rivalry between both teams to the one between Barcelona and Real Madrid, calling it “El Clasico”.
Apart from Pollard, the other names that popped up were of MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming. While MI’s Rahul Chahar and Ishan Kishan mentioned Dhoni’s name, their teammate Trent Boult said, “two words, Stephen Fleming”. MI’s Quinton de Kock called CSK “another gun team”, even as CSK’s Ravindra Jadeja said MI was a “very good, strong, all-round team”.
Towards the end of the video, Mumbai’s Jasprit Bumrah said that clashes with CSK were always competitive and that he was “looking forward to the competition”.
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When the first leg of the tournament was suspended earlier this year due to COVID-19 concerns, Rohit Sharma-led MI, who are the defending champions, were at the fourth spot on the IPL table with 8 points from 7 matches, while MS Dhoni’s CSK were at no.2 with 10 points from 7 games.
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