IPL 2025, MIvCSK Preview: Mumbai Indians Look To Build On Winning Momentum
Mumbai Indians will look to maintain winning momentum when they meet Chennai Super Kings in return leg clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. CSK won their opener against MI at Chepauk but both team's have struggled in the first half of their campaign.
The hosts however brought their campaign back on track with two consecutive wins over Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. But Hardik Pandya will be looking to enter into the top half of the table with another win. After beating MI, CSK lost five matches and notched up a much needed win against Lucknow Super Giants in the last game. Both teams are five time champions and capable to produce classics.
Barring conceding two extra wickets in chase, MI had a near perfect game against SRH. Bowlers used the conditions well to keep rival openers silent and Will Jacks sneaked a couple of wickets in the middle overs to put further brakes on their scoring. Despite conceding over 40 runs in the 18th and 20th over, MI were clinical in chase with struggling Rohit Sharma setting the impetus with three sixes. Ryan Rickelton, Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Pandya all chipped in to make the chase easier.
With Bumrah slowly coming to grips after comeback and Trent Boult executing well at the death, Mumbai Indians have plenty of options in bowling, with three specialist seamers, all-rounder Hardik and slow bowlers in Jacks and left-arm spinner Micthell Santner. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma was injured in the last game and didn't bowl. He will be doubtful for Sunday's game and have options in Vignesh Puthur and even Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
However, the nature of wicket will be under focus. An uncharacteristic wicket on Thursday that offered assistance to spin and sutle variations from seamers, brought the best out of MI. They won also a low scoring game against Kolkata Knight Riders here. In between a belter wicket that produced over 200 scores in both wickets went in visiting side Royal Challengers Bengaluru's favour.
CSK has many spin options in purple cap holder Noor Ahmad (12 wickets) which includes his three wickets against MI earlier this season. The experienced duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja can be more than handy.
MS Dhoni is back at helm and he showed in the last game what he is still capable of. He has cherished leading the side at the Wankhede Stadium. He will demand much more intent from the top order batters to give them a good start in the powerplays. Dhoni along with local boy Shivam Dube and Jadeja can be lethal in the death overs.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Shrijith Krishnan (wk), Bevon Jacobs, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, VS Penmetsa, Arjun Tendulkar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jasprit Bumrah.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c&wk), Dewald Brevis, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Shaik Rasheed, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddharth, Ayush Mhatre, Rachin Ravindra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, Anshul Kamboj, Deepak Hooda, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Matheesha Pathirana.
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