Rohit Sharma will look to get his act together as a batsman as well as captain when his star-studded Mumbai Indians take on a wily Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in what has been secured as an IPL blockbuster on Saturday night. Can be billed separately. Well-rested for a week after their crushing defeat against RCB in the season-opener, Mumbai Indians will certainly be under extra pressure in front of their cheering home fans at the Wankhede Stadium. Even more so, considering how ruthlessly Royal Challengers Bangalore were in a one-sided game with Virat Kohli cleaning up the MI attack.
But the inexperience of Rajvardhan Hangergekar and Tushar Deshpande to their advantage, both of whom were warned by their skipper Dhoni to bowl wides and no-balls, would find the batting-friendly Wankhede track very challenging.
How well spinners Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner bowl will also decide CSK’s fate against the five-time champions. Although there will be a case for Sisanda Magala, known for his wide yorkers for South Africa, who could replace Santner in the playing XI.
The focus will be a bit extra on Mi skipper Sharma, who hasn’t set the IPL stage on fire for a few seasons now. The Indian skipper has started his part with a bang but of late one big knock has eluded him.
In a small ground with short side boundaries, how well will Jofra Archer bowl for MI as the likes of Arshad Khan, Cameron Green, Ruturaj Gaikwad or Devon Conway could be the lambs to the slaughter.
Sharma has consistently raised questions over Bumrah’s absence, but Mumbai Indians have also tried to plug the gap by roping in Australian pacer Riley Meredith in place of the injured Jhye Richardson, and Sandeep Warrier in place of the Indian star to give them another option. Have given.
The fresh track at Wankhede can be expected to provide some early help to the fast bowlers and as the home team, Mumbai Indians will certainly want to make the most of it, especially considering that CSK themselves have won their last two matches. Struggled in this department.
MI will also be worried about how their other batting star Suryakumar Yadav fares against an inexperienced attack.
Young Tilak Verma waged a lone battle with the bat to save the blush for MI against RCB and Punjab’s Nehal Wadhera was also impressive on debut. But the team will look to put in a collective batting effort, starting from the top of the order.
In the Chennai line-up, Gaikwad’s formidable form with the bat and his pairing with the indomitable Conway is the best attacking weapon for the ‘Yellow Brigade’.
With two half-centuries in as many games, Gaikwad has lit up the IPL stage in the best way and his side would only wish that the right-hander is able to maintain the momentum from game to game.
Conway missed out on a half-century against Lucknow Supergiants, but announced his return to form by sharing a century partnership with Gaikwad.
Shivam Dube and Moeen Ali are vital cogs for CSK in the middle-order, with the venerable Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni also firing at crucial junctures, making them look like a better batting line-up than MI.
In the bowling department, Deepak Chahar has been under pressure having returned from a long injury lay-off but the India and CSK pacers will be hoping to make the most of the situation if it offers some built-in dampness.
For what it’s worth, Mumbai Indians can also draw credence from the fact that they have won 20 out of 34 meetings against Chennai Super Kings, head-to-head in 13 of the 15 editions where both teams have faced each other. played the horn.
Squad:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Dewald Brewis, Tilak Verma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Vishnu Vinod, Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Riley Meredith, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen. Arshad Khan, Dwayne Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goel, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Sisanda Magala, Shivam Dube, Dwayne Pretorius, Ajay Mondal, Nishant Sindhu, Rajvardhan Hangergekar, Mitchell Santner , Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjit Singh, Mathisha Pathirana, Mahesh Thikshana, Bhagat Verma, Prashant Solanki, Sheikh Rasheed, Tushar Deshpande.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
topics covered in this article