What

The two most-successful sides in IPL – Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians – will face-off in Match 15 of VIVO IPL 2019. The Super Kings are table-toppers and the only undefeated side in the competition, while the Mumbai Indians have a solitary win from their three matches.

In their most-recent outing, the Super Kings got the better of the Rajasthan Royals at home. MS Dhoniplayed the rescue act and powered his team to a competitive total after which the CSK bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals to deny the Royals. It augurs well for CSK that they've had the different match-winners in their three matches; if Harbhajan Singh won the Man of the match in the season opener, Shane Watson won the award in the win against the Delhi Capitals. Most recently, Dhoni walked away with the award after turning the clock back with a vintage innings.

Contrary to their practice of sticking to a performing XI, the Super Kings have shown willingness to pick their XI for the conditions. MS Dhoni's captaincy has been impressive as ever; he has played his cards right and used his bowlers extremely smartly.

Mumbai's only win so far this season was against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Most recently, they lost to Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. MI's batting had been disappointing in their three matches; even in the match against RCB, it took two fantastic overs at the death from JaspritBumrah and Lasith Malinga to earn them their first points of the season.

It has been unlike Rohit Sharma to not to convert starts to big scores; after announcing his intention to open the batting, Rohit has got starts in each of the three innings, but the MI captain has only managed a highest score of 48. It hasn’t helped MI that their middle order hasn't fired yet – MI has realised only one half-century, and a total of 178 in nine knocks by batsmen who have batted at 3, 4 or 5 this season. Hardik Pandya’s late innings cameos have given MI respectable totals to bowl at.

While the Super Kings will look to continue doing all the good things they’ve done in the three matches, the Mumbai Indians need to put on a better show with both bat and ball.

When

3 April 2019, 8pm IST

Where

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Previous Match XIs:

Mumbai Indians:Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Lasith Malinga, JaspritBumrah.

Chennai Super Kings:Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur.

Protagonists

Rohit Sharma averages 45.53 in MI’s wins in the IPL and 19.69 in their losses. Those numbers illustrate the kind of impact he has on the team’s fortunes. In MI’s solitary win this season, he scored 48, while he averages 23 in the two matches MI lost.

Quinton de Kock is among the top five run-getters this year – across competitions and formats around the world. MI will expect a big contribution from the South African left-hander.

CSK will look towards Shane Watson and Suresh Raina to post big scores. MS Dhoni has had two hits this season, and the CSK skipper has scored 107 runs without being dismissed.

The two bowlers to lookout for in this match are JaspritBumrah and Deepak Chahar.  If Bumrah’s area of speciality is the death overs, there is possibly no meaner bowler with the new ball in VIVO IPL 2019 than Chahar, The lanky CSK pacer has bowled out in one spell in all three matches, yet has an overall economy rate of 4.67!

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 24, Mumbai Indians – 13, Chennai Super Kings – 11.

The last time these two teams played at the Wankhede Stadium, they produced a thriller, with the Chennai Super Kings prevailing. Chasing a target of 166, CSK were reduced to 118-8 when Dwayne Bravo played one of the most memorable knocks one has witnessed in the IPL. When Mark Wood was eighth batsman out, Bravo was 29 from 17 balls, and CSK needed 48 from 21 balls. Bravo got stuck into Mitchell McClenaghan, hitting the Kiwi pacer for two sixes and a four in the eighteenth over, kept strike for the following over, and then hit Jasprit Bumrah into the stands on three occasions. After turning the match on its head in a matter of two overs, Bravo (68 from 30 balls) was dismissed with CSK needed 7 runs off the last over. Kedar Jadhav – who had earlier retired hurt with an injured hamstring – returned to bat and struck Mustafizur Rahman for a six and a four to lead CSK to a thrilling one-wicket win, with one ball remaining in the inning.

Trivia

Considering all the IPL matches played since 2017, the average first innings total at the Wankhede Stadium is 174.

Harbhajan Singh needs one more wicket to take 50 IPL wickets at the Wankhede Stadium.