Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have started in typical fashion in IPL 2019. While defending champions Chennai have hit the ground running, winning all three matches so far, Mumbai are taking their own sweet time to shift gears – as always.
Chennai showed remarkable composure under pressure to get out of a tight spot against Rajasthan Royals in their last game. After being 27-3, captain MS Dhoni dragged the score to a competitive 175-5 after hitting an unbeaten 75. Despite heavy dew, CSK kept Rajasthan eight runs way from their score.
Mumbai, on the other hand, have two losses and even the win against Royal Challengers Bangalore came in fortuitous circumstances as the umpire failed to spot a Lasith Malinga no-ball off the last ball of the game with Bangalore needing six for a tie.
Chennai are firing on all cylinders and experienced hands like MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo are chipping in with timely contributions. As Bravo revealed, the team don’t go overboard during team meetings as there is enough experience in the dressing room to take care of any situation.
Nostalgia 2011 Best moment of our life.. Same day same place we become the world champions 🇮🇳 @msdhoni @harbhajan_singh thanks for each and everyone for believing and supporting us.. love to all from us 😘❤ pic.twitter.com/3QYGoVW9EM
— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) April 2, 2019
Mumbai, on the other hand, have some concerns. Their star-studded bowling line-up could only muster two wickets against Kings XI Punjab in their previous game as they tried to defend 177. The addition of Australian left-arm seamer Jason Behrendorff and Windies quick Alzarri Joseph gives them a few more options in the pace department but since the match is to be played on the flat batting deck of the Wankhede, it will be up to pace ace Jasprit Bumrah and their spinners to do the restricting job.
Mumbai have leg-spinner Mayank Markande in the mix but he bowled only one over in the last game and has been benched in one game. The three-time champions will need to get a lot more out of their wrist spinner and spinning all-rounder Krunal Pandya if they wish to restrict the supremely experienced Chennai batting line-up.
According to reports, Mumbai pace ace Malinga is set to return to Sri Lanka to play in the domestic one-day tournament to stake his claim for World Cup selection and captaincy. Rohit Sharma has the option of Aussie quick Behrendorff.
The form of Yuvraj Singh is a concern for Mumbai as well. The southpaw has kept the hugely talented Ishan Kishan out of the playing XI and the franchise might be losing patience with the veteran batsman. With Mumbai really needing to get a move on, now might be the time to field Kishan.
Chennai, meanwhile, won’t want to tinker with their match-winning combination. Harbhajan Singh sat out the last game while Kiwi all-rounder Mitchell Santner got game time. Dhoni might be tempted to give him another go as Santner is a good batting option as well.
LIKELY XIs:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Jason Behrendorff, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (ct & wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir
