AB de Villiers feels there is an 'intimidating' factor as MS Dhoni's CSK advance to IPL 2023 final

AB de Villiers (Source: Twitter)

MS Dhoni and the troops advanced to the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 with a commanding win against defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday, May 23. The four-time champions finished second last in the 2020 points table and won the title the following year; similarly, they ended second last in the 2022 season and were the first team to book tickets to the grand finale in Ahmedabad this year.

Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad's solid knock (60 off 44) and Ravindra Jadeja's all-round heroics (22 runs and 2 wickets) helped CSK to register a 15-run win over GT. A target of 173 was never going to be an easy task for the CSK bowlers to defend against a quality team like Titans. But the captaincy brilliance of the man behind the stumps and the excellent composure of the bowlers proved that the score was plenty to defend against a team with a great record in the chase.

I feel there is an intimidating factor: De Villiers

As CSK reached its 10th IPL final in 14 seasons - the most by any team - former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star AB de Villiers revealed there is an intimidation factor in their success at Chepauk. The legendary South African cricketer said it is hard to beat CSK at their home.

“I feel there is an intimidating factor. Whether it’s the ground or it’s the MSD factor, opposition teams arrive thinking they have to play extraordinary cricket to beat them. But when you look at the scoreboard, you tend to lose by small margins. It’s 10 or 15 runs, being no-ball free, it’s small things that turn a game upside down. MSD and his troops tend to get it right, when they play at home, when they play in big Finals, you’ll see what they come up with,” De Villiers told JioCinema.

Speaking after the defeat, GT captain Hardik Pandya also praised MSD's captaincy, which proved to back ABD's statement.

"That's the beauty about him (Dhoni), with his mind and the way he uses the bowlers, he'll make sure that you'll feel like he's adding 10 runs. We kept losing wickets, he kept making sure that he used the right bowlers, happy for him as well. It would be a really good sight to meet him on Sunday if we can win the next game," Pandya said.