CSK bowlers ready for baptism by fire against MI batters

They call it the ‘El Clasico’ for a reason. There is so much history involved between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in just 16 years of their existence that every single match between them is weighed down by its burden. Current standings on the points table take a backseat, as yellow goes against blue. 

This season started on a terrible note for MI and their skipper, but both have managed to make a strong comeback statement by winning the last two games. Their batters, from Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan at the top to Tim David and Romario Shepherd down the order, have been belligerent against bowlers at the Wankhede, scoring at a strike rate of 205 in the last two games. 

Meanwhile, CSK are riding high on their three home wins this season and would be up against a team that has swallowed its opposition whole, one after the other, in its den. 

Their pacers, especially Mustafizur Rahman, have been superb, and they have the lowest economy (8.8) amongst all pace units this IPL 2024. However, this time, they’ll be up against a serious challenge, and their team’s success will depend heavily on how they execute it. 

MI vs CSK Head-to-Head 

Overall: Matches 36 | MI 20 | CSK 16 

At Wankhede : Matches 11 | MI 7 | CSK 4

In the last five matches between them, Chennai has won four, including both their games against Mumbai last season. 

Venue details and weather conditions 

If you have won the toss at the Wankhede, just close your eyes and choose to chase. Teams chasing have won seven out of ten matches. Moreover, toss-winning captains have opted to bowl first here in nine games since the last IPL. 

The reason is that the average first innings score here has been 194/7, with the winning average score being 222/6. In the last game, MI chased down almost 200 runs in the 16th over itself. 

As for the weather, it is predicted to remain between 25 and 30 degrees, and no rain is expected. 

Things to watch out for 

Mumbai’s batting blitzkrieg

We are in for yet another run-fest, as MI's batting has been aggressive from the get-go, having the highest boundary percentage and second-highest run rate in the powerplay. Opener Sharma and Kishan will be licking their lips as they’ll be against CSK, who have the highest boundary percentage for a bowling unit in overs 1-6. 

This has allowed their middle order, consisting of Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya and Tim David, to bat with even more freedom and easily scale big totals. They have the second-highest run rate in the middle overs (7-15), but CSK bowlers have the best economy in this phase (6.7). The Wankhede factor will ameliorate that effect, but expect it to be a tight contest in the middle overs. 

CSK’s middle order needs to accelerate quicker 

Chennai batters have scored at only 8.3 RPO in the middle overs, which is the third-worst amongst all teams. Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, and Ravindra Jadeja haven’t been great at accelerating against spin, and that has caused this dip. 

However, against MI at the Wankhede, they’ll have a great opportunity to correct that as they’ll be facing a lot of pace from MI, and the batting conditions are in their favour. Moreover, MI bowlers have the highest economy in the middle overs. 

Rahane scored 258 runs against pace with an average of 51.6 and a strike rate of 194 since IPL 2023, the third-best against pace among batters. CSK can use him to launch an attack against MI, along with Shivam Dube attacking their spinners in the middle overs. 

Probable XIs

There haven’t been any injury concerns for MI since the last game, but CSK will still have to wait to get Pathirana’s services, based on his head coach’s statement. However, chances are high that they might have Deepak Chahar ready for the game. 

Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (IP), Hardik Pandya (c), Tilak Varma, Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Romario Shepherd, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah, Gerald Coetzee, Akash Madhwal 

Chennai Suoer Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube (IP), Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman

Streaming and Telecast details 

The match will begin at 7:30 PM, be telecasted on Star Sports, and streamed live on Jio Cinema.