Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipped MS Dhoni was ruled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 game against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday due to fever. Apart from the ‘Captain Cool’, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was also deemed unfit to play. The defending champions made three changes in their playing XI with Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay and Mitchell Santner replacing Dhoni, Jadeja, and Faf du Plessis.
This was the second time Dhoni has not taken part in a match this season; he missed out the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Uppal stadium due to a back spasm.
After winning the toss and opting to bowl first at the Chepauk, the standing CSK skipper Suresh Raina said: “We will bowl first, wicket still looks the same. I think dew will be the factor. MS and Jaddu are not well, they have a fever and they will miss today’s game. We have three changes: MS, Jaddu and one more player is not playing (Faf). Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay and Santner comes in.”
MI also made two changes with Evin Lewis and Anukul Roy replacing Ben Cutting and Mayank Markande in the final XI.
Speaking at the toss, MI skipper Rohit Sharma said: “I would have chased too as dew comes in the second half which makes batting easier. The first half of the tournament was bit up and down . But now we know exactly what we need to know as a team. It is always challenging to play cricket here. We have made two changes in our team. Evin Lewis and Anukul Roy in place of Ben Cutting and Mayank Markande.”
Meanwhile, CSK are sitting at the top in the points table with 16 points under their belt.
