Mumbai, Sep 6 (IANS): Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir said Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) can afford to lose a couple of matches in the second leg of IPL 2021. Both CSK and RCB are at second and third place respectively in the points table with 10 points each.
"See from CSK & RCB's point of view, I think they've gotten themselves into a position where they can actually afford to lose a couple of games. So that's the reason why I said Punjab Kings can't afford to do that, KKR can't afford to do that. Sunrisers can't afford to lose a single game if they want to qualify for the playoff and that's the reason why they probably will still have an advantage especially CSK and RCB because they've brought themselves up to that position," said Gambhir at Gameplan show on Star Sports.
Gambhir highlighted that defending champions Mumbai Indians will have an advantage of playing the IPL in UAE as they won the title in those conditions in 2020.
"See again, Mumbai probably will be having that advantage, because first they've won it last time in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in UAE and they're going back to the same place and they're in a position where they can actually finish in the top two as well. If you look at other franchises especially franchises like KKR or for that matter even Sunrisers (SRH), it's pretty difficult for them to qualify or for that matter even Punjab Kings. But if you ask me one franchise who's going to have an advantage with this break, is Mumbai Indians."
Speaking about CSK and RCB, former India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel felt both teams will be jittery before commencing the second part of IPL 2021 in UAE.
"Definitely I think there would be a jitter in CSK's mind and probably in RCB's mind too. You know we're talking about teams like CSK. They wanted games behind their back. Someone like (MS) Dhoni, (Suresh) Raina, (Ambiti) Rayudu and Robin Uthappa, they're not playing cricket throughout the year, but they're just getting into the groove and they got this break."
"And teams like RCB you know, they need that momentum to start the tournament, which they had. So I think these are the two teams which would be thinking 'Oh okay we'll go again, and start from scratch'. This break, for teams which are at 4,5,6 they would be thinking that they have a chance to come back and teams who are in the 2nd or 3rd would be thinking that they have to start again as well."
The second leg of IPL 2021 will start from September 19 with Mumbai taking on Chennai at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The final will be played on October 15 at the same venue.