It’s action time

Mumbai: Defending champions Mumbai Indians will start their Indian Premier League season-11 campaign with a mouth-watering clash against Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday. M.S. Dhoni who played for Rising Pune Supergiant in the last two seasons will lead the yellow brigade again. 

The two sides that met in the IPL3 final here at DY Patil stadium are the most successful IPL franchises. MI have won it three times while CSK twice. Rohit Sharma’s MI not only have a superior head to head record but also a better home record. The much anticipated game will mark the return of two-time champions CSK back to the IPL fold after serving a two-year ban. Another interesting aspect of this IPL would be the use of DRS. Mumbai Indians, who have retained the core of squad, have usually been poor starters, something they would like to consign to history on Saturday. Rohit, the most successful captain in the IPL with three titles, will be key in the top-order along with new recruits in Evin Lewis of the West Indies and exciting wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan. Pandya brothers (Hardik and Krunal) and Kieron Pollard have the big hitting ability in the death overs and they have done it successfully for the champions. JP Duminy, Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary are set to form the middle-order. 

Dhoni has reunited with Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo who were part of Gujarat Lions in the last two seasons. They also have Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu in their ranks who had been with Mumbai Indians for many seasons and know the franchise like the back of their hands. Selection of the playing XI would be tough for Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming. Dhoni, Raina and Rayudu will be key to their batting though and they also have Kedar Jadhav and Murali Vijay along with experienced all-rounders Shane Watson and Bravo. Sam Billings and Faf Du Plessis are also options but the later is a doubtful starter owing to a finger injury. With Jadeja, Harbhajan and former MI leg-spinner Karn Sharma available as spin options, South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir and New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner will struggle to find a place in the playing XI. 

CSK pace bowling lacks teeth, so the likes of Shardul Thakur who is a local boy here will want to repeat his last season’s disciplined performances for the finalists Rising Pune Supergiant. He will have the likes of Mark Wood or Lungi Ngidi for support. If Chennai Super Kings have strong batting, boosted by experienced all-rounders, Mumbai Indians have a ruthless pace attack in the form of their consistent performers Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell McClenaghan. They have included Pat Cummins and Mustafizur Rahman this year to bolster the pace department. Medium pacers Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard can be useful operators in the middle overs.