Chennai Super Kings will take on the four-time champions Mumbai Indians in the first match of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League. After much chaos, the league is finally going to begin on September 19 in the UAE taking all precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Time: 07:30 PM IST (06:00 PM local).
Venue: The MI vs CSK match will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Broadcast: The match will be available on Star Sports network in India on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 2, and Star Sports 1 Hindi. Live streaming will be available on Star’s OTT Disney+Hotstar.
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings boast of strong bowling and their bunch of spinners should be able to do wonder on the slow pitches in UAE. In the absence of Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, the third-highest wicket-taker in the IPL history is expected to lead the attack along with the veteran Imran Tahir. Ravindra Jadeja could be a key performer for the franchise this time as a senior all-rounder. The pace bowling attack to has names like Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, and Josh Hazlewood. In the case of batting, all eyes will be on MS Dhoni.
Suresh Raina’s absence will make the batting line up slightly inexperienced. But there are the stars like Shane Watson, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo who have the potential to be game-changers on their day. Another issue that could bother CSK a bit is the average age of the team. Most of the superstars and mainstays of the side do not have age on their side.
CSK 2020 Squad:
MS Dhoni, Narayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay, Josh Hazlewood, Kedar Jadhav, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Monu Kumar, Shane Watson, Sai Kishore
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians are the most successful IPL team. With four trophies at the cabinet, they once again will be defending the title with a strong batting line up. Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Surya Kumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, and Hardik Pandya are IPL superstars. Kieron Pollard, the in-form captain of Trinbago Knight Riders showed his class in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League and should deliver yet again in IPL. Chris Lynn a proven match-winner and recruiting him seems to be a good decision by MI. The team’s bowling unit is led by the brilliant Jasprit Bumrah along with the experienced Dhawal Kulkarni, Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell McClenaghan, and James Pattinson.
Mumbai Indians do not have a good spinning pack. There are not many options in the spinning department for Mumbai. It is limited to Rahul Chahar, Anukul Roy, Jayant Yadav, and the all-rounder Krunal Pandya. The lack of experience could be an issue here. Moreover, Mumbai’s last IPL venture in UAE was not that great as they lost all their first five matches.
MI 2020 Squad:
Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, James Pattinson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Mohsin Khan, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Aditya Tare
MI vs CSK head to head record
Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have played 30 matches so far against each other in IPL. Mumbai Indians are leading the tally with 18-12.
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