Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, Indian Premier League (IPL), Today Match Prediction 26 Apr 2019

csk vs mi Match Prediction & Analysis

No love is lost when these two teams take on the field and they are the two most successful IPL teams ever.
Chennai Super Kings are on a roll and are the table toppers now. Shane Watson reminded the 2018 finals and scored a majestic 96 runs against SRH last match. Suresh Raina too provided good support scoring a quick fire 38 runs. Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav`s form is a big worry for CSK and Faf du Plessis seems to be losing his touch with the bat. MS Dhoni has been their best batsmen in this season so far scoring 314 runs and three crucial fifties. Bowling has been CSK`s biggest strength in this season and no one has scored more than 175 runs in 11 matches so far. Imran Tahir leads the way with 16 scalps and controls the match in the middle overs. Harbhajan Singh and Ravi Jadeja together with Tahir form the formidable spin trio for CSK. Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo bowl mostly at the start and are doing their job to perfection. 

Mumbai Indians will look to seal their spot in qualifiers sooner and will be eyeing a top 2 spot. Quinton de Kock leads the batting charts for them with 378 runs and 3 fifties. Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma are good in patches but are yet to score big in any match. Hardik Pandya batting has been their biggest positive this season and his exploits at the death set up a good total for the team. Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga form an excellent combo who can stop the batsmen in death overs especially. Young Leggie Rahul Chahar has been impressive with the bowling and is taking wickets in the powerplay. Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya need to stop the run flow with their controlled bowling in middle overs.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Chennai Super Kings Preview

Key Players:

Suresh Raina – Raina`s batting is a very important aspect CSK`s strength in IPL. He has been not good this year but scored 38 off just 24 balls the last match. Once Raina gets to form, CSK will be hard to stop and his one of the pillars of CSK batting. 

Deepak Chahar – Chahar has taken 14 wickets so far with an economy rate of less than 7 RPO. He has bowled most of the overs in powerplays and his economy rate makes him a valuable bowler for CSK.    

Stats from the season:

MS Dhoni - 314 runs, Avg 104.7- Strike rate – 137, HS -84* 50s-3

Imran Tahir – 16 wickets, Economy – 6.2 RPO, BB – 4/27

Chennai Super Kings Predicted Playing XI:

Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis

Chennai Super Kings Actual Playing XI:

Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir, Kedar Jadhav, SR Watson, Dhruv Shorey, Deepak Chahar, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Ambati Rayudu

Mumbai Indians Preview

Key Players:

Rohit Sharma – Rohit is yet to score a fifty this season and will be eyeing to get it during this match and return to form. He crossed 30 run mark three times but never carried on from there and his high score this season is 48 runs. 

Rahul Chahar –Rahul Chahar has figures of 3/29 & 3/19 in the last two matches. He has even bowled in powerplay overs to help his captain. He will be looking forward to outshining his brother Deepak in Chennai side. 

Stats from the season:

Quinton de Kock - 378 runs, Avg-37.8, Strike rate – 137, HS -81, 50s-3

Jasprit Bumrah – 11 wickets, Economy – 6.4 RPO, BB – 3/20

Mumbai Indians Predicted Playing XI:

Ishan Kishan, Lasith Malinga, Rohit Sharma (c), Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Mayank Markande/Jayant YAdav

Mumbai Indians Actual Playing XI:

Krunal Pandya, Evin Lewis, Anukul Roy, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, JJ Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Rahul Chahar, Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, SA Yadav

Weather Conditions

Chennai pitch has improved as the season progressed and the pitch used the last match was the best of a lot. Spinners are expected to get good purchase from the pitch. Any score of around 180 runs will be a good score here. Chennai has a hat and humid climate so dew factor may be a big consideration.

Toss: WIN the toss, BOWL First

Teams are comfortable chasing and dew factor may trouble the spinners to grip the ball in second innings so both teams will look to chase the total here.