The El-clasico of cricket, the fight between ice and fire, the clash of the titans, the contest everyone is glued to and would want to experience the best, the match which even shakes the servers of the broadcasters. I wish to say this but this has fizzled out for these two teams in the past two years. Anyways, let's get into the preview of the Saturday night clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
Overview:
Chennai Super Kings: Chennai Super Kings has been a tad decent side this time, but their openers are providing the impetus which the fans missed for the last two seasons. Ruturaj Gaikwad usually would fire from Match #4 in the last two seasons but looks like now number 1 has become his favourite number and he is in the form of his life and carrying his domestic form to the IPL. Devon Conway fizzed away in the opening match against Gujarat but came back banging in the second match and the openers put a partnership of 110 runs in 55 balls. Moeen Ali has been a worry in the batting department with not so tellable scores but his bowling in Chepauk was the turning point in their win against LSG. Death bowling and impact player in Tushar Deshpande is a big worry and CSK would need their wizard in Theekshana to come and help them but it would take him to reach India on Apr 10 due to national duties. Also, the non-inclusion of Dwaine Pretorius is a confusion for the fans and he would be one of the answers for the death bowling conundrums for the team. MS Dhoni, in the last match post presentation hinted to the bowlers to be wary of bowling extras as they would be needed to play under another captain if the extras are still being given by them. Also, the costliest buy in Ben Stokes and leading all rounder of the team in Jadeja are not providing the performances they have to give. Dhoni gave his vintage status in those two monstrous sixes in the last match against LSG and one would love him to provide the same impetus in the deadly clash happening today.
Mumbai Indians: The 5-time champions have not been in their best in the last 2 editions and this edition is no different as the franchise which is known to be a headache for other franchises, has now become a weak force with the line-up they have now for this edition. With their prominent and prime pacer Jasprit Bumrah not available for the season, they have not got a best backup to replace him to support Archer. Even though Behrendoff is there to support in PP only, they don’t have a beast to bamboozle in the death overs. Piyush Chawla is the lone specialist spinner in the team and they are still searching for the replacement of Markande and Rahul Chahar who were a force to reckon with when they played for the team. Ishan Kishan, retained for a highest purse of Rs. 15 crores, has not performed to his abilities and has become a big baggage to the team. One would expect him to fire in all cylinders and also prove his worth for his entry to the national team. Big hitters in Dewald Brevis, Tim David, Cameron Green are yet to prove their worth and the form of captain Rohit Sharma and stalwart Suryakymar Yadav is so worrying that the drawing board needs to be visited every now and then. Fans of this successful franchise would be waiting to see if they could see the old beast Mumbai Indians come back to form. The only positive for the team currently is the form of domestic young champ Tilak Varma and Arshad Khan who is known to perform like a beast and all hopes are pinned on these two who would be closely watched.
Injury and replacements:
- Riley Meredith has been named as the replacement for Jhye Richardson who has been ruled out of IPL 2023.
- Sandeep Warrier has been named as the replacement for Jasprit Bumrah for IPL 2023.
Probable XIII (including impact players):
Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (C&WK), Deepak Chahar, Rajvardhan Hangagerkar, Mitchell Santner / Sisanda Magala. (Impact Players: Sisanda Magala /Dwaine Pretorius, Tushar Deshpande, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajinkya Rahane).
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Cameron Green, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen / Kumar Karthikeya, Piyush Chawla, Arshad Khan, Jofra Archer. (Impact Players: Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Jason Behrendoff, Sandeep Warrier, Vishnu Vinod).
Interesting Facts:
- Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have played 34 times against each other and the H2H record is 14-20.
- Highest scorers: Suresh Raina with 736 runs followed by Rohit Sharma with 711 runs.
- Tilak Varma needs 19 runs to achieve 500 runs in IPL.
- Jofra Archer needs 4 wickets to reach 50 wickets in IPL.
- Moeen Ali needs 48 runs to reach 1000 runs in IPL.
- Ben Stokes needs 65 runs to reach 1000 runs in IPL.
- Ruturaj Gaikwad need 144 runs to complete 1,500 runs in IPL.
- Rohit Sharma needs to take 3 more catches to complete 100 catches in IPL.
- Ambati Rayudu is one catch away from completing 50 catches milestone in IPL.
- Wankhede: MI and CSK faced each other 10 times in Wankhede, where MI won 7 times and CSK won 3 times.
(Credits: Cric Buzz and my dear cricket fanatic friends)
Pitch / Weather Report:
Wankhede is known to provide incredible support to the batters, and the same might happen in this game. The average first innings score in the last five T20 games has been 168 runs. Both teams have a weak bowling line-up and Wankhede's short boundaries will give the batters license to post a huge total. The team winning the toss will likely elect to chase. (Credits: https://www.crictracker.com/)
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Date & Time: April 8th at 7:30 PM IST and local time
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Jio Cinema
Dream 11 Team:
