The Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. It is the 49th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 and the second meeting for the teams this season.
Overview:
MI and CSK had played against each other at Chennai earlier this season and former came out victorious. Dhoni's men will be looking forward to take revenge when they met MI in Mumbai on Sunday.
MI are placed in the fifth position with 12 points, winning six of the 10 matches played so far. They lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in the previous match after winning three games in a row. They are now under pressure to perform, as they placed among other teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, trying to make it to the top four.
CSK are currently on top of the table with 18 points after winning nine of the 11 matches played so far. They are on a seven-match winning streak, the latest win being against Kings XI Punjab. They are just a couple of wins away from being assured of a place in the final four, so they will be keen to win the next few matches.
Previous Meetings:
The teams have met 12 times in the past and MI have defeated CSK on seven occasions. They beat the Chennai franchise by nine runs in their previous meeting this season.
Team News:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard are in form but they managed to score only 129 in the previous match against SRH which they lost. Ricky Ponting has been rested for a few matches now while Sachin Tendulkar has performed on only one occasion this season. Inconsistency is their main worry.
On the bowling front, they have Lasith Malinga, Mitchell Johnson, Pragyan Ojha, Dhawal Kulkarni and Harbhajan Singh but their performance this season has been far from impressive. They took only three wickets in the previous game.
Chennai Super Kings: Suresh Raina scored a century in the previous match, helping the team put up a total of 186 runs on the board. With batsmen like skipper MS Dhoni, Michael Hussey and Subramaniam Badrinath in good touch, their batting line-up has become a threat to the opponents.
Dwayne Bravo took three wickets in the previous match while Mohit Sharma took two. They took six wickets in all, and that was after taking nine wickets in their earlier match. With Dirk Nannes, Ankit Rajpoot, Chris Morris and Ravindra Jadeja in the line-up, they are turning into a strong bowling side.
Prediction:
No team has beaten CSK as much as MI in the IPL but given their performance this season, the former are the favourite to win on Sunday.
SQUADS:
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
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
Where to Watch Live
The match will begin at 4:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
