Mumbai: In the battle between the best, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will lock horns will Mumbai Indians (MI) in an Indian Premier League match here at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday.
Both the teams have had dismal run this season as Ravindra Jadeja's Chennai have just one win from six outings and sit at ninth in the standings, while the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai are yet to open their account and are placed at the bottom of the point table after six consecutive losses.
The five-time champions MI hold a healthy head-to-head record against the four-time title winner CSK, having won 19 of the 32 matches played, with Chennai winning 13.
For CSK, Ruturaj Gaikwad has regained his form after poor start, hammering 48-ball 73 against Gujarat Titans in their last game.
After six games in the tournament, all-rounder Shivam Dube has scored the most runs for Chennai with 226 runs, including two half-centuries and a best score of 95. Robin Uthappa too has scored two fifties.
Bowling wise, Dwayne Bravo leads the bowling department with 10 scalps. Maheesh Theekshana can exert some pressure on MI batter in the powerplay.
Rohit have to bring back his form to add runs on the board during the powerplay and release pressure from the middle order. Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan have scored two fifties so far this season for MI.
Jasprit Bumrah, Jayadev Unadkat and Murugan Ashwin will lead the bowling charge.
Chennai Super Kings squad: Ravindra Jadeja (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, Dwaine Pretorious, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Tushar Deshpande, Deepak Chahar (injured), Adam Milne, Chris Jordan, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, KM Asif, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Bhagath Varma, Hari Nishanth, Subhranshu Senapati.
Mumbai Indians squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Tim David, Jaydev Unadkat, Tymal Mills, Jofra Archer (unavailable & injured), Riley Meredith, Daniel Sams, Fabian Allen, Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin, Basil Thampi, Anmolpreet Singh, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Aryan Juyal (wk), Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Hrithik Shokeen, Sanjay Yadav, Arshad Khan. (UNI)
