IPL 2019: Mumbai Indians Hope To Stop Chennai Super Kings' Victory Juggernaut At Wankhede
Mumbai Indians have only one win out of three matches while Chennai Super Kings have won all three played so far.
Mumbai Indians (MI) and skipper Rohit Sharma will look to put their best foot forward against MS Dhoni-led defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who have been unbeaten in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 so far. The two IPL powerhouses, who have record three titles each to their name, will face off in the 15th match of the IPL 2019 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. Having crushed Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals, CSK established a winning streak, while Mumbai lost two matches to Delhi and Kings XI Punjab and won one game against RCB in the ongoing season.
Recent history in head-to-head clashes is in MI's favour, as the home team has beaten their rivals in four out of the last five contests.
Overall too MI holds a 14-12 advantage over CSK, including once in the defunct Champions T20 League.
However, CSK seem to hold the edge this time around, especially with Dhoni rolling back the years with a typically robust 75 off 46 balls that lifted his team from 27 for three to 175 for five against Rajasthan Royals at home in their last match. With Dwayne Bravo holding off Rajasthan's charge at the end with the ball, CSK maintained their 100 per cent record.
CSK have the edge in batting depth and in spin bowling variety, while Mumbai Indians have the better pace attack on a pitch that is bound to offer bounce and carry. MI are over-dependent on openers Sharma and South African Quinton de Kock. The rest need to step up.
The hosts will have the option of fielding new recruit, West Indian fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, or all-rounder Ben Cutting in place of the off-boil Lasith Malinga.
In the spin department, Mumbai are behind their opponents who have Harbhajan Singh, South African Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja to bank on after the power play.
Teams (from):
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Rahul Chahar, Ben Cutting, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Siddhesh Lad, Evin Lewis, Mayank Markande, Mitchell McClenaghan, Alzarri Joseph, Jason Behrendorff, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Salam, Anmolpreet Singh, Barinder Sran, Aditya Tare, Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan (wk), Scott Kuggeleign.
Match starts at 8 pm IST.
(With PTI inputs)
Chennai Super Kings
Mumbai Indians
MS Dhoni
Rohit Sharma