ABOUT THE MATCH
Finally, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 is here and is about to start after many uncertain circumstances and lots of last-minute preparations in the UAE. The 1st match of the 13th edition of IPL is scheduled to be played on 19th September 2020 (Saturday) between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. In the 2019 season, MI and CSK were the finalists and MI won the IPL title by just one run. This MI Vs CSK match is one of the most anticipated contests in IPL and a fantastic deal of excitement is prevailing about the 1st IPL match.
This match is going to begin at 07:30 PM IST (06:00 PM local time) (02:00 PM UTC).
Match Preview:
Mumbai Indians:
- Rohit Sharma, captain of MI along with wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock are expected to open the match for Mumbai Indians. In case Rohit Sharma is going to play at the middle order then Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav might get the opening roles.
- In the middle order, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, and Krunal Pandya will take responsibility. Normally, Hardik Pandya plays at the 5th or 6th spot.
- With Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai Indians has a powerful bowling attack and Trent Boult will handle the pace attack, whereas the spin department will be headed by Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar. This time J Pattinson is replacing the place of Lasith Malinga, who has the ability to bowl 150 kph.
Probable Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Coulter-Nile/Mitchell McClenaghan, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.
Bench: Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Prince Balwant Rai, Sherfane Rutherford, Anukul Roy, Digvijay Deshmukh, Aditya Tare, James Pattinson, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Jayant Yadav, Mitchell McClenaghan/ Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Chennai Super Kings:
- With Murali Vijay, most probably Shane Watson will open the batting. After this duo, Chennai is likely to go with Ruturaj Gaikwad and N Jagdeesan. CSK has also the option to go with Faf du Plessis.
- In the middle order, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, captain MS Dhoni will handle the batting. Normally, Dhoni plays at the 5th or 6th spot. Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja, two important all-rounders of CSK will take care of the lower middle-order batting.
- With Piyush Chawla, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja, the spin bowling unit of CSK seems a good package, whereas DJ Bravo, Josh Hazelwood/ Lungi Nagidi will lead the pace attack and death overs bowling.
Probable Playing XI: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, DJ Bravo, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir/Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur.
Bench: Murali Vijay, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Monu Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Sam Curran, N Jagadeesan, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Sai Kishore, Josh Hazlewood, Imran Tahir/Lungi Ngidi.
Pitch Report:
At this venue, the surface is not that much batting friendly. The pitch is comparatively slow and spinners can get a good advantage from this.
Weather condition:
In Abu Dhabi, it will be humid and hot day with normal winds blowing. The probability of rain is almost nil.
Probable top performers:
Mumbai Indians:
Rohit Sharma– The hitman Rohit Sharma made the fifties in each of his last two T20I matches at the starting of the year and if he can continue his fantastic form, once again he will be one among the top scorers in 2020 IPL.
Quinton de Kock– Last season in 2019, he became the big-hitting batsman of the tournament by scoring 529 runs with four fifties.
Jasprit Bumrah- In this edition, it has no doubt that Lasith Malinga will be missed, but last season Jasprit Bumrah was the leading wicket-taker of Mumbai Indians and his extraordinary economy rate is another cause he is so untouchable.
Chennai Super Kings:
Shane Watson- Even if he is not stable in last season, he is tough to neglect. When the two teams, MI and CSK played against each other, he knocked 80 runs from 59 balls, and in the Pakistan Super League, he made his 50th T20I fifty earlier this year.
Imran Tahir- Whenever he plays, Imran Tahir is one of the most crucial bowlers for the team. The leg-spinner of South Africa is another veteran of all-time, who arrives in the UAE from some fantastic bowling at the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Dwayne Bravo-
For T20 cricket, Dwayne Bravo is perfectly fit. Now he has taken his 500th career wicket in T20I. Obviously he is another bowler that epitomizes dependence on the experience of CSK.
Head to head:
- Overall T20I Matches – 30
- Mumbai Indians won – 18
- Chennai Super Kings won – 12
- No Result – 00
- Tie– 00
Team form in last 5 matches:
- Mumbai Indians – L, W, W, W, W
- Chennai Super Kings – W, L, L, W, L
Broadcast Details:
- Tv – Star Sports Network
- Live Streaming – Disney+ Hotstar
- Match Timings – 19th September 2020 at 07:30 PM IST (06:00 PM local time) (02:00 PM UTC)
Probable winning team:
This is just the 1st match and we don’t have any clear idea about the form of the individual players. Both the teams are looking strong and powerful in their own way but If we analyze the batting line-up of MI and CSK, MI has better and it has a younger set of players, who can provide immense power to the squad. And this time CSK may get hampered by their disrupted arrangements. But it is also true that the lions are hungry and so are the warriors of Mumbai!
