IPL 2021 Final CSK vs KKR: Michael Vaughan makes BIG prediction, says THIS team will win

File image (Source: Twitter)

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan on Friday predicted that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will win the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and Ravindra Jadeja will be the Man of the Match.

CSK will square off against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2021 final later on Friday at the Dubai International Stadium.

"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," tweeted Vaughan.

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

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 15, 2021

The IPL 2021 has been played in two parts this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after a long wait, the final is finally here. The summit clash will see MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings clash with Eoin Morgan's Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

MS Dhoni-led CSK has won the IPL title thrice and after putting on a dismal show in the 2020 season in UAE, the side made a remarkable comeback this year and some fearless cricket from the franchise has seen Dhoni's men reach the finals.

Dhoni might have managed to score just 114 runs from 15 matches this season, but he rose like a phoenix when the team needed him most and his best knock came in Qualifier 1 against Delhi Capitals. He scored 18 runs from six balls, rolling back time, giving fans a perfect nostalgia trip as the Chennai franchise roared into the final. His innings even got Virat Kohli to label Dhoni as the "greatest finisher ever".

Moving to KKR, Eoin Morgan's side was completely down and out in the India leg as the side had won just two games out of seven. However, travelling to the UAE brought about a change in fortunes.

Venkatesh Iyer's inclusion provided the much-needed boost to the batting lineup and the Kolkata-based franchise has been playing fearless cricket. Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, and Rahul Tripathi have done their job too this season.

Squads:

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood, Suresh Raina, Imran Tahir, Jason Behrendorff, Krishnappa Gowtham, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Hari Nishanth, N Jagadeesan, KM Asif, Harishankar Reddy, Dominic Drakes, Bhagath Varma, Karn Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harbhajan Singh, Tim Southee, Andre Russell, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sheldon Jackson, Sandeep Warrier, Tim Seifert, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vaibhav Arora.