The clash of titans Mumbai Indians (MI) versus Chennai Super Kings (CSK), IPL's two most successful teams. Currently, in the IPL table, MI is placed at 3rd position and CSK are placed at the 8th position. If MI win this match they will become table toppers, and if CSK wins they most probably will move to the 7th position.
Head to Head
So far Mumbai Indians have had an upper hand in the rivalry with their 18 wins to Super King's 13 wins.
The Head to Head looks skewed in the favour of Mumbai Indians for the home/away matches but the point to consider here is that their results at the neutral venue slightly favour Chennai 6-5.
In the first leg match between these two teams, CSK defeated MI by 5 wickets.
Squads
Top Performers in the MI VS CSK up until 2019
TOP Performers of MI & CSK in IPL 2020
MI:
K Pollard: He is by far the most inform player for MI. He tops the list of players with the highest strike rate with the strike rate of 200. He has batted in 8 innings and has been dismissed only twice that means he has an average even better than his strike rate that is 208.
Q de Kock: He has scored 4 fifties in this last 5 matches for MI. He is the highest run-scorer for MI this year like he was in the previous year. Overall, he has scored 322 runs at an average of 40.25 and a strike rate of 146.36.
J Bumrah: Indian teams ace bowler as expected has performed exceptionally well in this tournament. He struggled with his bowling form in the first few matches but has recovered exceptionally thereafter. Overall, he has picked up 15 wickets at a strike rate of 14.40, an average of 17.86 and economy rate of 7.44.
R Chahar: This youngster has been very consistent with his leg-spin as well. He has picked up 11 wickets in 9 matches and has a bowling economy rate of 7.40 which is decent for someone as young as him.
CSK:
Faf du Plessis: He not only is the best batsman for CSK but also is amongst the top run-scorers in this tournament. In the previous encounter with MI, he had scored 58 runs and remained not out. Overall, he has scored 375 runs at an average of 46.87 and a strike rate of 141.50.
S Watson / A Rayudu: Both these players have been scoring runs at the strike rate of 125 odd whereas S Watson has an average of 31.66 and A Rayudu has an average of 41.66 respectively.
D Chahar: He has had an excellent outing with the ball in the last few matches. Barring J Hazlewood who has played in only two matches, Chahar is CSK's most economical bowler this year.
R Jadeja: He is ideally in the team as the bowling all-rounder but has sparkled as the batsmen this season. He has scored 194 runs at an average of 48.50 and a strike rate of 164.40. He is an asset on the field as well.
Other Players who could play crucial role in today's match
Sam Curran (CSK), K Pandya(MI), R Sharma(MI)
Likely Playing 11
On paper, both the sides look very strong but if we talk about the players in form MI looks to be in better form. My allegiance like always is with MI but CSK's win would make the competition between the team's in the lower half of the table very intense.