The 44th match of the IPL 2019 will see two of the best and amazing teams going against one another. Chennai Super Kings will face Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. MI had won their last encounter in Wankhede on April 3.
Chennai Super Kings are working like a well-oiled machine at the moment and though they have faced some hiccups, CSK have qualified for the playoffs with 8 wins in 11 matches and now they will look to add to that win column to stay in either 1 or 2 positions to have extra cushion to make it into the finals.
MS Dhoni-led side was beaten in Wankhede quite convincingly and he knows how good the MI team has been despite their inconsistent performance over the season. For CSK team, their wonderful blend of experience and youth have enabled them to stay at the top of the table since the beginning. Even out of form Suresh Raina got some runs behind him and now CSK looks set to storm into playoffs with momentum behind them.
MI has 6 wins in 10 matches and is yet to make it to the playoffs, which can happen if they win 2 matches out of remaining four. MI will have trouble playing on the slow surface of CSK which offers much help to spin and their skipper Rohit Sharma had struggled throughout with spin and is yet to score a fifty this season. They have struggled with fitness issues for their bowlers and will also lose the services of Jason Behrendorff shortly, but would like to make the most of it against CSK, and assert dominance in their long-lasting feud.
The match between these two teams have always been classics and nothing short is being expected here of them.
MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja are missing today for Chennai Super Kings due to illness. Suresh Raina is the stand-in captain for CSK.
Toss: Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Playing XIs:
CSK: Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina (c), Ambati Rayudu (w), Dhruv Shorey, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir.
MI: Quinton de Kock (c), Evin Lewis, Rohit Sharma (w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Rahul Chahar, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah.
