Mumbai: The bad shape of the Chennai Super Kings may take away the return of IPL Clasico this year, but for the Mumbai Indians, the game will present a strategy-changing challenge to keep their victory on Sunday.
The Mumbai Indians resurrected their staggering movement in their two straight wins to defeat the Delhi capital and Hyderabad, but Hardik Pandya’s seventh place still requires intermediary traffic with several other teams in similar situations.
The Mumbai Indians plan to execute their plans on a tricky field at Wankhede Stadium, where they dismantled the explosive batting style of SRH in a precise way.
That surface is an atypical surface of Wankhede, turning and grabbing the spin and paced for the receiver, which eliminated the battle from the SRH batsman.
However, this approach to heavy CSK is not the right approach and can be counterproductive. Noor Ahmad thrives in the CSK color, with 12 wickets in seven games, including three wickets he faced against MI earlier this season, while the five-time winner also has two experienced indexes in Ravicandran Ashwin (5 wickets) and Ravindra Jadeja (4).
However, given their current form, MI will still prevail despite their loss to CSK in Chepauk’s season opening game.
Rohit Sharma hasn’t improved his score yet, but his quick start to SRH gave MI the motivation needed. Tilak Varma has been rolling, so has Suryakumar Yadav, with Ryan Rickelton’s contribution at the top, Will Jacks’ all-around performance winning for Mi.
Mi is happy with how their bowling department finds their own pace, as Trent Boult’s perfect execution of the Yorkers on a recent outing has caused a lot of trouble, and Jasprit Bumrah also found his length against SRH.
Pandya has performed well in the role of bowler and batsman, but he will continue to rely on Naman Dhir for a deadly offensive hit.
Karn Sharma did the finger webbing split against SRH and was an injury issue given the lack of turnaround time between matches.
In their case, there is no sign that CSK is able to end their four straight losses with five tickets.
But MS Dhoni returns to Wankhede’s “field of many fighting between these teams”, which should stimulate the visiting aspect.
Dhoni is the difference between Mi and CSK, the two teams clashed here in 2024, with his four-goal 20 and three away from Pandya.
For the rest of the season, Dhoni’s return as full-time captain, CSK found “mobility” with a bowling roster, a positive signal for the Old King, who faced the mission of returning to disappointing sports, contributed to the bats in death and suffered knee injuries in all of this.
CSK added former MI player Dewald Brevis, but it remains to be seen whether Young Mumbai Recruit at Ayush Mhatre will slide into the match XI immediately, given their limited conditions and limited knowledge of pitching here.
Head-to-head record:
Since the championship was founded, the rival has won five IPL titles and he has traveled to the game 40 times. Among them, the Mumbai Indians had a record of 21-19.
In an earlier encounter, CSK beat MI and won 4 wickets in Chepauk. Even in the clash at Wankhede last season, CSK won the victory from Rohit Sharma.
Probability of winning:
Traditionally, Mumbai has surface-friendly and has relatively short boundaries. However, the curator has supported the home team in the last two games and has gained an advantage in the last two games, which has given the bowlers, especially the spinners.
Given the dew factor, teams that win throws may prefer to hit the ball first.
But a confident Mumbai may have found the rhythm and will have an advantage.
Team (from):
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Shrijith Krishnan (wk), Bevon Jacobs, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, VS Penmetsa, Arjun Tendulkar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jasprit Bumrah.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c&wk), Dewald Brevis, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Shaik Rasheed, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddharth, Ayush Mhatre, Rachin Ravindra, Ravicandran Ashwin, VIjay Shankar, Sam Curran, Anshul Kamboj, Deepak Hooda, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Matheesha Pathirana.
The competition begins at 7:30 pm.
