Despite the hot weather in the evenings of April in Mumbai, the recent T20 games at the venue are nothing but a batsman’s paradise, at the Wankhede stadium. And once the floodlights will be on, for the commencement of the 11th season of the cash-rich league on Saturday, the Indian cricket fans will be able to witness the oldest rivalry of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
CSK will be returning back to the IPL after a gap for two years and their halt came after the loss in the final of IPL 2015 against the same opposition and their biggest rival against whom they will be playing the tournament opener of 2018. While the team has never short of the fan following in all parts of India, the question is whether they will be able to attract a similar number of audiences in their comeback match or not as the Wankhede Stadium, on Saturday.
Also read: Match 1 (MI vs CSK) – 5 Players To Look Out For
But irrespective of the fact factor at Wankhede or anywhere else, there will surely be a familiarity factor despite the two-year break. The crucial cogs of SK except R Ashwin are still the same which can give the guarantee of one thing that the bonding of the team will not be an issue for the management. And purely in terms of the game, they have a bunch of players who have enough experience of playing in Mumbai as they have got players like Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma who were the members of MI till last season. And then there is Mumbai’s local boy – Shardul Thakur, who is expected to be the bowling spearhead of CSK in IPL 2018.
During IPL players’ auction 2018, CSK has picked all kinds of spinners in their squad in order to make good use of their home conditions at Chepauk in Chennai, while MI has relied on forming a stronger pace attack. And that is where Mumbai could hold an edge over CSK in the tournament opener.
Although Mumbai Indians have left out three of their dependable players — Harbhajan, Rayudu and Lasith Malinga — they have much like CSK, retained the core. On paper, one can clearly state that MI looks stronger, but in middle-order, they will rely more on the Pandya brothers along with the ever-dependable Kieron Pollard. If any two of them fail to fire, Mumbai will find them in deep trouble and because of that very fact that had to make the local boy Suryakumar Yadav play in the tournament opener, who can do the job for them in the middle-order even if the top-order collapses.
As of now, there are some automatic selections for Mumbai for the IPL opener, and there are a plethora of options to fill the remaining spots as well. Among the newer faces for the side, Ishan Kishan, Evin Lewis, Pat Cummins and Mustafizur Rahman (if fit), could play a crucial role this season. How well the new guys cope with the condition at Wankhede and how soon the veterans find their mojo, will be the best things to look out for in the tournament opener for MI, once the sun sets along the horizon of Marine Drive alongside Wankhede in Mumbai.
The rivalry between MI and CSK is beyond players and even their die-hard fans tend to support their team in any given situation. But, in terms of stats, Mumbai holds an edge over Chennai by winning 12 games out of 22.
Pitch and Weather conditions in Mumbai
Although the game will be played completely under the lights, the temperature wouldn’t drop below 28-degree Celsius for most parts of the match. And the humidity is even higher which will make players sweat a lot it is going to be humid. The pitch at Wankhede is expected to be batting friendly, which has been evident since the last couple of matches at the venue.
Also read: Match 1 (MI vs CSK) – 5 Things to Look Out For
With Faf du Plessis is still nursing his wounded finger, suffered during the fourth Test against Australia. He will be unavailable for the opening game and in his absence, Sam Billings is expected to open for CSK along with Murali Vijay. While, for Mumbai, the Australian pacer Pat Cummins has arrived in India but didn’t turn up for practice. Still jaded after a hectic tour of South Africa, he is expected to be rested for the opening game.
Probabale XIs:
Mumbai Indians – Evin Lewis (O), Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Surya Kumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard (O), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Mitchell McClenaghan (O), Mustafizur Rehman (O).
Chennai Super Kings – Murali Vijay, Sam Billings (O), Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo (O), Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh/ Imran Tahir (O), Mark Wood (O), Shardul Thakur.
