When his star-studded Mumbai Indians take on a cunning Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in what might be considered a Saturday night IPL blockbuster, Rohit Sharma will want to have both his act together as a batter and as captain.
Mumbai Indians, who had a week to recover from their devastating defeat to RCB in the season opener, would undoubtedly be under more pressure playing in front of their devoted home crowd at Wankhede Stadium.
Even more so considering how viciously they were defeated by Royal Challengers Bangalore in a lopsided match in which Virat Kohli completely destroyed the MI assault.
But, to their benefit, Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Tushar Deshpande’s inexperience would work in the home team’s favour as the inexperienced pair could find the batting-friendly Wankhede track to be quite difficult. Both bowlers were admonished by their captain Dhoni for delivering wides and no-balls.
The success of CSK against the five-time winners will also depend on how effectively spinners Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner bowl. A case might be made to replace Santner in the starting XI with Sisanda Magala, a South African wide yorker specialist.
Sharma, the captain of the Mi, will be given a little bit more attention since he hasn’t really lit up the IPL stage in a few seasons. The Indian captain has seen his fair share of explosive beginnings, but a significant setback has evaded him for a while now.
How effectively Jofra Archer bowls will be crucial for MI on a compact field with short side boundaries since players like Arshad Khan and Cameron Green might be easy prey for Devon Conway or Ruturaj Gaikwad in good form.
Sharma has frequently faced criticism for Bumrah’s absence, but the Mumbai Indians have also sought to fill the gaps. Riley Meredith, an Australian fast, has replaced the injured Jhye Richardson, while Sandeep Warrier has taken the position of the Indian star, giving them another alternative.
Given that CSK themselves have struggled in this area in their past two games, Mumbai Indians will undoubtedly want to take advantage of the new track at the Wankhede, where fast bowlers would be anticipated to get some early help.
MI will be concerned about how Suryakumar Yadav performs against an inexperienced attack, since he is their other batting star.
With the bat, young Tilak Verma fought alone to save MI’s face against RCB, while Punjabi Nehal Wadhera also made an impression in his debut. But the squad will attempt to bat as a unit, beginning with the top order.
The biggest assault weapon for the “Yellow Brigade” in the Chennai lineup is Gaikwad’s domineering form with the bat and his partnering with the unflappable Convway.
Gaikwad has lit up the IPL stage in the greatest manner imaginable with two fifties in as many games, and his team would only pray that the right-hander is able to maintain the momentum from one game to the next.
Conway failed to reach a half-century against the Lucknow Super Giants, but he and Gaikwad pieced together a century stand to signal his return to form.
For CSK, the venerable Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni have also delivered at crucial junctures, giving them the appearance of a superior batting line-up than MI. Shivam Dube and Moeen Ali are crucial cogs in the middle-order.
Deepak Chahar hasn’t bowled well since making a long-term injury recovery, but the India and CSK seamer will try to take advantage of any underlying wetness if it’s there.
For what it’s worth, Mumbai Indians may also take heart from the fact that they have defeated Chennai Super Kings 20 times out of 34 times in head-to-head competition in 13 of the 15 tournaments in which the two sides have faced off.
Squads:
Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Riley Meredith Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Duan Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, and Akash Madhwal are the members of the Mumbai Indians. Rohit Sharma is the captain.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Sisanda Magala, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Ajay Mandal, Nishant Sindhu, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Matheesha Pathirana, Mahesh Theekshana, Bhagath Verma, Prashant Solanki, Shaikh Rasheed, Tushar Deshpande.
