Karunesh Kumar Rai
CSK will take on MI this Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. CSK and MI are statistically the best two teams in the IPL since its inception in 2008. These two teams have been consistent with their performances throughout and have had some fierce battles in the IPL and the now-defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20), with both teams winning the CLT20 twice. There are 10 IPL trophies won between these two teams, equally shared among the IPL giants.
The two teams have faced each other 38 times, with the Mumbai Indians dominating the Men in Yellow, winning 21 matches and losing 17. CSK is currently on 3rd and MI is on 7th in the points table. Both the teams will be looking forward to winning this game and climbing-up the order.
The hosts have a very solid top order, in the lights of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Surya Kumar Yadav. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan have looked in amazing touch this season, except of 1 fifty by Ishan Kishan both the batmen have not scored any big runs yet but they are the top scorers for MI till now this season, where-as both the both players has a strike-rate of over 165. SKY on the other hand missed out the first few matches and made his comeback against DC, where he didn’t open his account, but in the previous encounter against RCB he announced his comeback with a 17 bowls 50.
CSK also has a decent top order, Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane. This is a very quality top order but these players haven’t performed as per their reputation yet, except of Ruturaj, nobody has scored a 50 or any cameo, this is where CSK is lacking behind, in the previous edition both their openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway where in top 3 in orange cap table.
Overall the current form and performances makes MI top order stronger than CSK. MI batsmen have scored runs and at a very high strike rate.
