We are at the halfway mark of the group stage and things are just getting interesting at the moment. Young new talents are coming up and winning games for teams. As the tournament progresses we are gearing up for the most-awaited clash of the season. It is one of the most high-profile games in franchise cricket. It is the Mumbai Indians who take on the arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings in a battle that always excites us. This match will be taking place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Mumbai Indians had dominated the tournament last year but this season they just haven’t got going completely. They haven’t been outplayed yet but they haven’t dominated as well. The team got back to winning in the last game against Rajasthan. They gave shown faith in their players who have delivered very often for them. They will certainly look to continue winning as they have to move up in the points table.

Chennai Super Kings have looked so different this year. They have rediscovered their lost mojo. It has been a great comeback for them. They have scored the maximum number of runs at the death this time. CSK have looked like their vintage selves. They currently are on top of the points table. They have all the necessary boxes ticked and are cruising at the moment.

Mumbai Indians middle order has to fire

Mumbai Indians have not looked like the side they were last season. Their batting has faltered on numerous occasions in the middle overs. Mumbai will look to increase the scoring rate in the middle overs. Hardik Pandya just has not scored the runs this year. He has a bit of a shoulder niggle due to which he has looked off colour. Kieron Pollard has just got going now. MI will hope that he can continue. Quinton de Kock just bounced with a brilliant 70 in the last game. All in all the Mumbai batting has to fire collectively as a unit.

Chennai bat deep. By deep we mean their number 9 can tonk the ball when needed. Faf du Plessis has been consistent. Ruturaj Gaikwad has shown why the management has faith in him. He has now scored 3 consecutive fifties. Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu have not been tested since the first game of the season. MS Dhoni will look to give his star batsman more balls by promoting them. Moeen Ali has been an out-of-the-box pick. Batting at number three he has shown his explosive side which has often boosted the teams total and helped them win games.

Mumbai Indians bowling phenomenally

Mumbai have bowled well throughout the course of this tournament. The stand-out has been their death bowling. Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult hardly give away runs at the death. CSK who have scored the most number of runs at the death will be aware of this. Rahul Chahar is on the list of purple cap holders. He has constantly delivered wickets in the middle overs for his side thereby shifting the game in Mumbai’s favour. CSK will have an uphill task if they have to score runs against the men in blue.

The MS Dhoni-led side is not far behind when it comes to the bowling department. They pick up quite a few wickets in the powerplay. Deepak Chahar is their go-to bowler in the powerplay. He swings the ball both ways which often confuses the batsman and they end up throwing their wickets. CSK have always been reliant on their spinners. Jadeja and Moeen Ali quite often deliver as well. Lungi Ngidi has just played a few games and has looked good. CSK look pretty settled in their bowling department.

Head to Head: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings

Played: 30

MI won:18

CSK won:12

Both these teams meet so often in the final or in the playoffs. When it comes to the history between the teams Mumbai clearly has the upper hand. They have defeated CSK 5 times in their last 6 encounters. They completed a clean sweep over them in 2019 when CSK lost to them 4 times. This year Chennai are looking strong but Mumbai is the one team you can bank on to break CSK’s winning streak.

Weather and Pitch Report

The temperature is expected to be around 36 degrees. The humidity will be 20%. The wicket will be tacky in the first half-hour where the ball will not come onto the bat easily. After the dew sets in batting will become easier.

Team News

Mumbai Indians– They dropped Ishan Kishan in the last game for Nathan Coulter Nile. They might play the same winning formula which helped them triumph over the Royals.

Chennai Super Kings– They are not going to be making changes to their starting 11 as they looked well set at the moment.

Squads

Mumbai Indians – Rohit Sharma (C), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Adam Milne, Chris Lynn, Jayant Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Quinton de Kock, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, Arjun Tendulkar, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh.

Chennai Super Kings

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf Du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C and WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Robin Uthappa, Imran Tahir, KM Asif, Bhagath Verma, C Hari Nishanth, Narayan Jagadeesan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Dwayne Bravo, Jason Behrendorff