In a rematch of last year’s final the defending champion Mumbai Indians open the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a meeting against the Chennai Super Kings.
Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings: IPL preview
The Mumbai Indians are the most successful side in the history of the IPL closely followed by the Chennai Super Kings making this the ideal match to kickstart the T20 extravaganza.
Mumbai are a side packed with big-hitters but few have the capability of sustaining an assault as long as their skipper Rohit Sharma.
CSK have the benefit of an extremely experienced squad despite the withdrawals of Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina from the playing group.
Previous meetings
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have faced each other 28 times in the IPL with MI winning 17, while CSK have come out on top 11 times.
In 2019 Mumbai Indians won all four of the meetings between the two sides, beating them twice in the round-robin, again in the playoff and once more in the final, albeit by the narrowest of margins (1 run).
Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings: Pitch report
The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi has historically featured a batting-friendly pitch. Pace on the ball tends to travel at this ground while the large playing area means that batsmen will be asked to run well between the wickets to maximise scoring.
Typically scores of 160 or more prove to be very difficult to chase down and while IPL teams normally opt to chase when winning the toss this may be an occasion where batting first could bear fruit.
Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings: Live stream and TV info
The match will start at 16:00 (SAST) and will be broadcast on SuperSport’s dedicated cricket channel.
The match can be live streamed by DStv subscribers on either the Showmax or DStv Now apps.
Team news
England allrounder Sam Curran and Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood will not be available for the first match as they complete their quarantine period after flying in on Thursday after an ODI clash between their nations.
Mumbai Indians have a full squad to choose from and have indicated that Quinton de Kock and skipper Rohit will open the batting.
Each team can select up to four of their eight overseas professionals.
MUMBAI INDIANS SQUAD
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock (Wicketkeeper), Kieron Pollard, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Mohsin Khan, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare, James Pattinson.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS SQUAD
MS Dhoni (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Kedar Jadhav, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ambati Rayudu, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Monu Kumar, Shane Watson, Sai Kishore, Narayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay.
