Kolkata, May 23 (IANS) On the eve of his side’s Indian Premier League (IPL) final against Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens here, Chennai Super Kings batsman Suresh Raina on Saturday said they would want to just “go out and enjoy” even though they have only won two of their five summit battles so far in the tournament.
“There will no pressure on us whatsoever I believe, need to play on our merits. Whichever team will handle the pressure better will come out on top. If you look at our bowling line up we have done really well, and we have executed our plans really well.
“So really we need to go there and enjoy the game,” Raina said at the pre-match conference on Saturday.
On playing against a side that had beaten them in the 2013 final at the same venue, Raina said: “When you play Mumbai Indians, you really need to play good cricket, especially here in Kolkata where they beat us in 2013. So we really need to play well.”
Speaking about the unpredictable Kolkata wicket, the left-hand bat — who is the highest run-getter in the tournament’s history — said one needs to bat well on the strip for the first six overs as later on it aids the spinners.
“In Kolkata it is about getting as much possible in the first six overs because from eighth to 14th it takes a bit of a turn. It gets a little slow, so you have to score run upfront and with the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Mahendra Singh Dhoni coming in later one can capitalise,” Raina opined.
Raina also believes his side, two-time champions CSK will have an advantage of experience going into the final. CSK defeated Royal challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Qualifier 2 to enter the final for the sixth time.
Raina felt to battle the hot and humid conditions, one needs to be “disciplined”, “sleep well” and get a massage to keep the stress and the fatigue factor away.
Raina concluded by saying the toss “would not make much of a difference”.
