It's a battle of the Kings vs Royals as Chennai look to breach fort Rajasthan in the IPL final in Mumbai on Sunday.

Chennai skipper MS Dhoni may have scripted a fabolous World Twenty20 title win for India, but this time he's up against the wily Shane Warne, probably the best skipper Australia never had.

The two teams started off the tournament in absolutely contrasting styles. While Chennai rode on some fantastic performances of its Aussie imports to leap to a 4-0 lead, Rajasthan were demolished in the first two games.

Warne, the fighter, led the comeback and soon they became the favourite underdogs as they brushed aside stronger teams as they seemed on paper.

The key to Rajasthan's success, Warne admitted was the performance of the local Indian youngsters. It seemed that the Asnodkar's and the Trivedi's had a point to prove to their more accomplished counterparts.

Names and reputations were put to the sword by this young side led by the 38-year-old Warne. Some of the imports too shone with bat and ball. Shane Watson for sure will be in line for the most valuable player of the tournament award, while Sohail Tanvir's six-wicket record-haul will take some time to break and Graeme Smith, who has been ruled out of the final with a hamstring injury, gave them some blitzkreig starts.

But the contribution of a certain Yusuf Pathan outshone everyone, so much so that he himself admitted that he now had an identity of his own, rather than being known as the elder brother of the more illustrious Irfan Pathan. Yusuf's hard-hitting performance earned him a place in the 15-member Indian squad for the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

With Smith out of Sunday's final, Warne has the tough task of instilling another opener who will do the job for his team and there is a possibility that Yusuf or Kamran Akmal will be pushed up the order to do the job.

The key factor, however, will be Rajasthan's bowling. Apart from some Warne magic, they have been well served by Watson, Tanvir, Munaf Patel and Siddharth Trivedi. The skipper will be hoping they do so on Sunday as well.

In the rival camp, MS Dhoni will be hoping that his boys can unleash the same intensity that blew away Punjab in the semi-final on Saturday. It was a clinical performance from a team that took a beating after registering an initial four-nil win-loss record in the league stages.

Chennai too, like Rajasthan, have been well served by local talent. Parthiv Patel has not only looked impressive with the bat at the top of the order, but also been clean behind the stumps. Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and L Balaji have also excelled for Chennai.

The pace trio of Manpreet Singh Gony, Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel have bowled beautifully till now but will face their sternest test at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.

Based on performance in this tournament, Rajasthan seem to be the clear favourites. They beat Chennai in both the home and away match, but a final is a different ball game altogether.

Will Rajasthan complete a hat-trick of wins against Chennai or will Dhoni be third-time lucky against Warne? Only time will tell.