After a far from ideal start to the season, the Mumbai Indians have gotten back on track with consecutive victories, and by a significant margin at that. As a result, they have climbed to 7th place in the points table. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan provided a strong start for the team in the last two matches, and the same is expected from them in this match. The overall level of play has also improved significantly. Suryakumar Yadav was in excellent form against RCB, scoring 52 runs off just 19 deliveries. He, along with Tim David and Romario Shepherd, can add crucial runs to the lethal overs. With Tilak Varma also looking in good form, MI currently has many match-winners, with eleven players in their lineup. Jasprit Bumrah received a five-wicket haul on Thursday and topped the list of best players of the season. He received good support from Gerald Coetzee and Akash Madhav. It seems that rotation is the Achilles’ heel of MI, as Mohammed Nabi and Shreyas Gopal have yet to find their rhythm.
The reigning champions have been somewhat inconsistent this season, losing 2 out of 5 matches played. Although it’s still early in the tournament, CSK will want to gain some winning momentum and climb up the table. Shivam Dube and Ruturaj Gaikwad are in good form, each scoring half-centuries. However, they will need to perform better as they face their toughest challenge of the season yet. Daryl Mitchell and RaviNidhar have been included in the lineup, with high hopes pinned on them, but they still need to prove their worth with both bat and ball. We believe that both RaviNidhar and Daryl Mitchell will enjoy batting in Mumbai. In terms of bowling, Mustafizur Rahman remains a key bowler for CSK. He has scalped 9 wickets in 4 matches with an average of 14.22. In the seam department, he will be supported by Tushar Deshpande and Shardul Thakur. Once they get going, Ravindra Jadeja and Mahesh Tikshan claimed 4 wickets between them in the last match and can once again play an important role at the Wankhede. The thing is, while CSK has every chance of giving Mumbai Indians a tough fight, their bowling is a bit shaky.
