Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will clash in another high voltage clash at MCA stadium in Pune. The two teams have gone onto have majorly different fortunes since clashing in that thrilling opening encounter at the Wankhede in IPL 2018 Match 1.
CSK had won that match by 1 wicket as Dwayne Bravo and Kedar Jadhav starred for them.
Since then, CSK has gone to become the no.1 team in the points table with 5 wins in 6 matches with 10 points; while MI are languishing at bottom of the table with just 1 win in 6 matches and 2 points. MI now has to win all but one match out of their remaining matches to qualify for the playoffs.
Two more losses and they will virtually be out of the playoffs race. They now face CSK, who have become stronger over the course of the tournament with Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni starring for them. MI’s major problem is their nonperforming middle order with Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard not doing too much to help their team’s cause.
Their find of IPL 2018, Mayank Markande and Jasprit Bumrah keep the MI bowling flag flying with both wickets and strangling runs, but on the other hand, Mustafizur Rahman has lost atleast 3 games in the last over, something Rohit Sharma will have to look at. Rohit’s form is another concern for the MI camp, which will desperately look to defeat CSK at their adopted home.
For CSK, it will be a routine affair helmed by MS Dhoni and will have the usual performing artists, with the only thorn being the performance of Ravindra Jadeja. Otherwise, they have a few players who love playing at Pune, like Imran Tahir, who has 15 wickets from eight innings at the ground, with an average of 17 and economy rate of 8.2.
They know that something is still amiss and Mumbai need to plug their holes quickly because time is running out.
TOSS:Mumbai Indians have won the toss and have opted to field
PLAYING XIs:
Mumbai Indians : Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Jean-Paul Duminy, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah
Chennai Super Kings : Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir