Reigning champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will face last year’s runners-up Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday (September 19) in the opening game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. The high-voltage match will be played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The contest will begin at 7.30 PM (IST).
Mumbai will miss the services of the IPL’s highest wicket-taker Lasith Malinga. Chennai, on the other hand, will not get the support of their most capped player and IPL’s second-highest run-scorer Suresh Raina.
CSK will also miss the presence of veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh in IPL 2020.
Pitch and weather report:
Despite being an evening game, players won’t be getting any relief from the scorching heat. The temperature will be around 30-degree Celsius. The level of humidity will be near 70 %.
The pitch shall be on a slower side, but pacers too can take advantage in the initial phase.
MI vs CSK, Probable XI:
Mumbai Indians:
MI skipper Rohit Sharma will open the innings with Proteas wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock. Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard will hold the middle-order while Pandya brothers would come in as all-rounders.
In the absence of Malinga, the pace attack shall be headed by Jasprit Bumrah with Mitchell McClenaghan to assist him. For the remaining overseas slot, there could be a toss-up between Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Rahul Chahar would be a lone specialist spinner.
Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Coulter-Nile/ Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.
Chennai Super Kings:
In a traditional manner, Shane Watson and Murali Vijay will open the innings. Since Raina is not in the side, Ambati Rayudu will come at number three followed by Faf du Plessis and captain MS Dhoni.
Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar will be the pacers while the spin department will be handled by Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla.
Probable XI: Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi.
Here are fantasy suggestions:
Fantasy Suggestion #1:
MS Dhoni (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar.
Captain: Imran Tahir; Vice Captain: Surya Kumar Yadav
Fantasy Suggestion #2:
MS Dhoni (wk), Quinton de Kock (wk), Faf du Plessis, Rohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Lungi Ngidi.
Captain: Kieron Pollard; Vice Captain: Piyush Chawla
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton de Kock(wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Saurabh Tiwary, James Pattinson, Aditya Tare, Mitchell McClenaghan, Chris Lynn, Jayant Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai.
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni(wk/c), Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Murali Vijay, Karn Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi, Monu Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Sam Curran, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, N Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif.
