On May 3rd, the Indian Premier League 2021 was suspended midway through the tournament due to a Covid outburst in India. After a gap of five months, the remainder of the season is set to kick off on September 19 in UAE. Famously known as the El-Clasico of IPL, Chennai Super Kings lock horns against Mumbai Indians at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.
MS Dhoni-led side has turned the tables around after having a poor season in 2020. After playing seven games, they are placed at the second position with 10 points to their name. They have won five of the total seven games and were on a roll in the competition. The batsmen stepped up to put big totals on the board and then the bowlers, the spinners in particular bowled brilliantly to win games comprehensively.
A bigger challenge waits for the men in yellow. They had a season to forget when they last played in UAE. Nothing went right for them in that edition. It will be a task for them with the resumption of IPL in the UAE. They need to be at their absolute best to qualify for the playoffs.
Mumbai Indians on the other hand have struggled a bit in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. They are placed fourth in the points table, having won four in total seven games played. The middle-order batsmen have failed to make a mark in the competition. Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock at the top of the order have done most of the run-scoring. The seamers too have struggled to pick wickets upfront.
The last time the Mumbai franchise played in the UAE, they emerged as the champions. They were fantastic the whole season and will be eager to turn back the clock when the remainder of the edition kicks off on September 19.
Match Details:
Match: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings, Match 30, Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021
Date and Time: September 19th, 2021 Sunday, 07:30 PM IST
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Pitch Report:
The pitch at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium is a bit on the slower side. It will assist spinners from both sides. Expect it to turn as the game progresses. The average first innings score on this pitch is 144. Teams batting first has won 34 of the total 61 games played.
Squads
Chennai Super Kings
MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Faf du Plessis, Robin Uthappa, Karn Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Jason Behrendorff, Krishnappa Gowtham, Mitchell Santner, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Hari Nishant, N Jagadeesan, Chetehswar Pujara, KM Asif, Harishankar Reddy, Bhagath Varma
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, Jayant Yadav, Chris Lynn, Roosh Kalaria, James Neesham, Anmolpreet Singh, Piyush Chawla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh
Predicted Playing XIs
Chennai Super Kings
The men in yellow have done well so far in the competition. But they need to keep performing in the same way. The batting heavy side will look to keep their best foot forward against the heavyweights Mumbai Indians.
Playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis/Sam Curran, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, DJ Bravo/Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir
Mumbai Indians
The defending champions will be eager to change their fortunes. They have all the bases covered and will look to fire in unison in the game against their rivals CSK.
Playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Rahul Chahar, Dhawal Kulkarni/Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Match prediction:
Two heavyweights face off in the 30th match of the 14th edition of the IPL. Both CSK and MI look strong on paper and it promises to be a cracker of a contest. A new page will be added in the history books of the old rivalry between these two teams on Sunday.
Mumbai Indians have an edge over the Chennai franchise and expect them to come out on top on Sunday.
