🏏IPL 2022 Match 59: Chennai Super Kings VS Mumbai Indians 🏏

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.

🏏IPL 2022 Match 59: Chennai Super Kings VS Mumbai Indians 🏏

The two heavyweights in the cash-rich league have had a disappointing run in the fifteenth season.

While the five-time winner MI are already out of the playoffs race, defending champions CSK have some outside chances to stay alive in the 10-team competition.

The MS Dhoni-led side managed to produce a scintillating win in their last match against the Delhi Capitals (DC) and have still kept their hopes alive in the tournament.

Despite their poor performance in IPL 2022, the two teams did produce a thriller when the last time they locked horns.

CSK skipper ms Dhoni had turned back the clockto take his side home adding more excitement to the classic rivalry.

With four wins in 11 matches, CSK is currently in the ninth position in the points table and a loss here will crash down their playoffs hopes.

On the other hand, Mumbai Indians are coming off a big loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders, and with two just two wins, MI has no chance to qualify for the playoffs.

The Rohit Sharma-led side will be looking to end the remaining matches on a high and they are likely to make changes as well.

For the majority of the 14 seasons before 2022, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians shaped IPL's rich narrative, took 9 titles between them, and raised the roof when their paths crossed.

The contrasting ideologies - instinct vs data - and the mini-battles have kept the broadcasters excited and fans euphoric, as the buzz around a CSK-v-MI fixture has almost always been unmatched.

Probable XIs:

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Shivam Dube, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Dwayne Bravo, Maheesh Theekshana, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Ramandeep Singh/Anmolpreet Singh, Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Murugan Ashwin, Kumar Karthikeya, Jasprit Bumrah, Riley Meredith

Suryakumar Yadav is out of the tournament with an injury.

Dewald Brewis is expected to be back in the XI at the expense of Ramandeep Singh.

In the 35 meetings between the two sides in IPL so far, MI is leading the charts 15-20 against CSK in the head-to-head battles.

In the last 5 meetings, however, it’s 3-2 in favor of CSK.

Ravindra Jadeja will be missing the remaining games of the season due to a rib injury.

Rohit Sharma’s early tentativeness against left-arm pacers worked for CSK earlier this season as Mukesh Choudhary dismissed him in the first over.

If Rohit manages to survive the powerplay overs, CSK could bring out another favorable match-up to tame the MI captain.

Pitch report:

The track at Wankhede generally offers decent support to seamers, but the quickness in the surface helps batters pile up a big total as well. Dew is likely to make its impact, pushing captains to bowl first after winning the toss.

Head-to-head record:

Played: 33 | CSK won: 14 | MI won: 19 | No result: 0

Match Prediction:

Case 1: CSK wins the toss and bowls first

Powerplay score: 40-50

MI total: 160-170

Case 2: MI wins the toss and bowls first

Powerplay score: 45-55

CSK total: 165-175

Team batting second to win the contest.

But the IPL royalty stand humbled in 2022. They've been disjointed in effort, uninspiring with both bat and ball, and are hence at the wrong end of the 10-team points table.

The stakes are off for MI who are already out of the running for the playoffs, while CSK are holding onto a fragile mathematical strand to stay alive.

But even in a season where the two powerhouses have been a caricature of their dominant selves, they've produced a final-over thriller. Granted, it lacked the edge of the high stakes that they've previously contested and was the result of an evening full of errors, the buzz and the anticipation were unmistakable. Three weeks from that night, on Thursday, when the context is weaker and stakes are barely one-sided, expect nothing different.

A brave call at the toss? Only thrice in 15 games at the Wankhede stadium this season has a captain opted to bat first.

Two of those ended in victories with one of them coming just three days ago when RCB beat SRH by 67 runs.

The other venues have offered more merits to change toss strategies and set a target, but there's now scope to do that at the Wankhede too, as evidenced by the level of control that RCB enjoyed against SRH.

Rohit Sharma's early tentativeness against left-arm pace worked for CSK earlier this season as Mukesh Choudhary dismissed him in the first over.

If Rohit fights past that, CSK could bring out another favourable match-up to tame the MI captain.

That would mean an early PowerPlay stint with the ball for Dwayne Bravo, who has dismissed Rohit five times in IPL before.

Jasprit Bumrah, fresh from the menacing spell of 5 for 10, should be unfurled against CSK's best batter this season - Shivam Dube. The free-spirited six-hitter has already carted 16 sixes this season - the joint-third best tally - but has previously shown susceptibility against Bumrah's accuracy, falling twice and scoring just 10 runs in 17 balls against the pacer.

Thank you for the tag bro 🤗

MI🥳