The 29th fixture of the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League will witness a clash between two of the most successful franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. The El Clásico of cricket will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday from 07:30 pm onwards.
Mumbai Indians have found their way back to winning ways after a bumpy start as they defeated Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The franchise will be now hoping to make it three in a row while Chennai Super Kings will also look towards climbing up the points table.
What has happened so far?
With three wins and two losses to their name, Mumbai Indians are occupying the seventh place in the IPL 2024 points tally. The franchise had a forgettable start to the tournament with three consecutive defeats against Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals by 6 runs, 31 runs, and 6 wickets respectively.
However, the team finally made amends and defeated DC by 29 runs to record their first win. It was a stunning performance by the batters as MI recorded 235 runs in the allotted 20 overs.
Hardik Pandya’s men continued their winning streak in their next match against RCB and scored a win by seven wickets. Jasprit Bumrah picked up a five-wicket haul to dismiss the Faf du Plessis-led side for a total of 196 runs while the MI batters also unleashed carnage as they chased the target within 15.3 overs.
Chennai Super Kings are residing at the fourth place in the points table with six points from three wins and two losses. The five-time champions started their campaign with a win against RCB and Gujarat Titans.
Ruturaj Gaikwad’s men then suffered hiccups with losses against DC and Sunrisers Hyderabad before launching a comeback against Kolkata Knight Riders to head into this crucial match with momentum on their side.
Head to Head Record
Mumbai Indians have an upper hand in the head-to-head records against Chennai Super Kings. The arch-rivals have played a total of 36 times in the tournament against each other and MI has emerged victorious 20 times while the remaining 16 games saw the Chennai-based franchise clocking a win.
Key Players
Shivam Dube (Chennai Super Kings): Shivam Dube has emerged as the top player for Chennai Super Kings in the 17th season of the Indian Premier League so far. He has scored a total of 176 runs in five innings at an average of 44.00 and a strike rate of over 150. The Super Kings’ last game saw Dube scoring 28 runs off 18 balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Meanwhile, during the team’s second game against Gujarat Titans, Dube delivered his finest performance of the season. Coming to bat at number 4, the 30-year-old hammered 51 runs off just 23 balls with the help of two boundaries and five maximums. He also earned the Player of the Match award for his performance.
Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians): Jasprit Bumrah has been the backbone of the Mumbai Indians since his debut in the Indian Premier League and this season seems to be no different. The pace sensation has been lethal in the tournament and is occupying the top place in the wicket-taking charts with 10 wickets from five games at an average of 11.90.
Jasprit Bumrah won the Player of the Match award against RCB
Bumrah delivered one of the finest performances of his cricket career during MI’s last game against the Royal Challengers as he picked five wickets while conceding only 21 runs in his four overs. Bumrah’s wickets included Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror, Saurav Chauhan, and Vijaykumar Vyshak.
Team News from Both Camps
In the last few matches, injuries have forced Chennai Super Kings to make changes to their playing XI and something similar is expected on Sunday as well. Deepak Chahar paved the way for Shardul Thakur after sustaining a niggle while Matheesha Pathirana also missed the game because of injury. The two seamers are unlikely to be available for selection against Mumbai Indians as well.
Speaking of Mumbai Indians, they do not have any injury concerns as Suryakumar Yadav is also back in the squad and fired himself back into form against RCB. Shreyas Gopal was also preferred ahead of Piyush Chawla in the last fixture and the management is expected to continue with the wrist-spinner.
Predicted XIs
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya ©, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Shreyas Gopal, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Madhwal
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad ©, Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Maheesh Theekshana
Prediction
Mumbai Indians are on a winning spree, having defeated the Capitals and the Royal Challengers in their last two games. The team is expected to make it three in a row against Chennai Super Kings as they would be again playing in their home conditions.
Having said that, CSK has also displayed a good brand of cricket this season and it can be a challenging task for the Mumbai-based franchise to trounce the Super Kings.