Mumbai: In what could probably be MS Dhoni’s final appearance at the Wankhede Stadium, the venue where he led India to the ODI World Cup in 2011, the focus will be on hosts Mumbai Indians when they take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 29 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as they seem to have put their campaign on the track.
After three successive defeats, Mumbai Indians have won their next two matches rather convincingly, hammering the second-highest total of this season (234/5) against Delhi Capitals and handing Royal Challengers Bengaluru a seven-wicket defeat thanks to a sensational 5-21 by Jasprit Bumrah on a track on which five players scored half-centuries.
Mumbai now have four points from five games and are seventh in the standings. CsK, on the other hand, have also recovered from two successive defeats after winning their first two matches by handing Kolkata Knight Riders a seven-wicket defeat at M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
After their match against RCB, it appears Mumbai Indians have found their mojo back as they came up with a superb performance with Bumrah’s superb spell in which he was on a hat-trick twice, helping them restrict Faf du Plessis’s side team to 196/8. They then chased the target in double quick time, with Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav blasting quick-fire half-centuries. Yadav blazed to a 17-ball fifty, the second fastest for Mumbai Indians ever.
A third victory of the season against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday will boost them up well before they take the road for their next few matches, returning to Mumbai only next month.
However, there are still a few areas that they need to iron out, like their bowling part from Bumrah, who all went for runs against RCB as Faf du Plessis (61), Rajat Patidar (50)) and Dinesh Karthik (52 not out) all scored half-centuries. Their batting unit has been bolstered by the return of Suryakumar Yadav, who struck a half-century on his return from an ankle injury and sports hernia surgery. His return has given more solidity to the batting order and balance too.
Mumbai Indians have used their fortress at the Wankhede to score two wins and a third home win before they hit the road and that too over defending champions CSK will boost their morale for their upcoming matches.
Chennai too have done well at home with a perfect record at Chepauk while they have lost matches in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. They would like to reverse this trend in the clash between teams that have won the IPL title five times each.
With the transition of their captaincy from MS Dhoni to Ruturaj Gaikwad apparently successful so far, there are chances that Dhoni may not return to the Wankhede next year at least as a player as CSK now has a more settled look than when Dhoni handed the reins to Ravindra Jadeja two seasons back. Though he is 42 and coming to play after surgery, Dhoni showed that he still has it in him to unleash some big shots.
CSK has some inconsistent performances so far in IPL 2024 — with batters Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, Shivam Dube, Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell coming up with some fine knocks.
On the bowling front, Ravindra Jadeja did well in their last match while Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman and Matheesha Pathirana have also bowled well.
Though it is too early to impact the league standings, Sunday’s clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will give a big boost to the team that wins this clash between the two most successful teams in the 17-year history of the world’s best T20 league. Mumbai Indians have enjoyed more success in head-to-head battles between the two teams, winning 21 out of the 38 clashes. Chennai have won 17 matches and have also emerged victorious in both the clashes played last year. The teams have played four finals between them.
With MI not scheduled to visit Chennai this year, the winner will have the bragging rights as far as the rivalry goes.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.
Chennai Super Kings: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Daryl Mitchell, MS Dhoni (wk), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Matheesha Pathirana, Nishant Sindhu, Aravelly Avanish.
–IANS