Saturday will see two traditional powerhouses of Indian Premier League (IPL) - Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians - play against each other at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
Overview:
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is no doubt the most successful team in the IPL, having won two championship titles and twice runners-up. They lost IPL 2012 title to Kolkata Knight Riders after winning the previous two seasons. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's boys will be looking forward to taste success again.
Mumbai Indians have performed consistently well though they have not claimed any title. They are wounded in IPL sixth edition after conceding defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening match by just two runs. They will be looking forward to open account on the score table.
The two teams have met 11 times in the past, and Mumbai Indians have an edge over CSK having won six times.
Team News:
Chennai Super Kings: The team will expect openers Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey to make a good start so that big hitters like Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni could accelerate the run rate.
They will miss all-rounder Albie Morkel, who is not available due to his commitment to domestic T20 tournament in South Africa. Opening batsman Faf du Plessis has also been ruled out due to back injury.
The team has pacers in Dwayne Bravo, Jason Holder, Dirk Nannes and Chris Morris. They will miss Nuwan Kulasekara after BCCI advised IPL franchises not to field Sri Lankan cricketers in matches played in Chennai following Tamil Nadu government's objection over Sri Lankan Tamils issue. Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Suresh Raina can trouble batsmen.
Mumbai Indians: The team is likely to field the same side that played against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first match. Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar are expected to open again for the team, and batsmen like Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, and Kieron Pollard are in the line-up.
Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga missed the first match due to a sore back. He will miss the second match again. 19-year-old fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah from Gujarat, who took three wickets for 32 in the match against RCB, is expected to put up a good show in the absence of Malinga. Other fast bowlers like Mitchell Johnson, Jacob Oram and Munaf Patel should chip in this time.
The team fielded spinner Harbhajan Singh in the last match. He picked one wicket for 21 runs in four overs. It will be interesting to see if he will be replaced by Pragyan Ojha or field both in Saturday's match.
Prediction:
Both the teams are strong. Mumbai Indians have better record against CSK but the latter are perhaps the most consistent team in IPL. The match should be a tight one but with home ground advantage, Dhoni's boys should win.
SQUADS:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, Ankit Rajpoot, Baba Aparajith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ben Laughlin, Chris Morris, Dirk Nannes, Dwayne Bravo, Francois du Plessis, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jason Holder, Michael Hussey, Mohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Nuwan Kulasekara, R Karthikeyan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ronit More, Shadab Jakati, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha
Mumbai Indians: Ricky Ponting (captain), Abu Nechim Ahmed, Akshar Patel, Aditya Tare, Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayudu, Amitoze Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik, Dwayne Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Harbhajan Singh, Jacob Oram, Jalaj Saxena, James Franklin, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Johnson, Munaf Patel, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Phil Hughes, Pawan Suyal, Pragyan Ojha, Rishi Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal.
Where to Watch Live
The match will begin at 8:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
