Chennai and Mumbai come into this fixture on the back of chastening losses to Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad, respectively.
Whenever two of IPL’s most successful sides clash, there is a sense of anticipation and buzz unlike any other contest. It is not for nothing that a Chennai Super Kings-Mumbai Indians clash is called the ‘El Clasico’ of IPL.
They have won five titles each and dished out some of the finest games in the league’s history.
Yet, when these two franchises meet here in the reverse fixture at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday, the conversation is more about how the mighty have fallen.
After eight matches, CSK and MI are in the bottom half of the table, with the Super Kings in a slightly better position, having three wins compared to just two for Hardik Pandya’s men.
Chennai and Mumbai come into this fixture on the back of chastening losses to Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad, respectively.
The root of their struggle has been the inability to nail the right playing combination, as evidenced by the fact that Mumbai has fielded 22 players while CSK has used 19 so far.
In their previous meeting at the Wankhede Stadium, Sanju Samson’s century and Akeal Hosein’s brilliant spell in the PowerPlay helped CSK hand MI its biggest defeat in history by runs (103).
The Kerala batter will once again hold the key to propping up a misfiring batting unit that struggled against GT’s pace attack in the last match at Chepauk.
Meanwhile, for MI, it is a question of whether it can recover from the shellacking handed out by Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen, who made mincemeat of a 244-run target a couple of nights ago.
The visitor will hope the setback fires up the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who have had a quiet tournament.
Considering another loss could pretty much bring down the curtain on their campaign, fans would expect a hard-fought game befitting the famed rivalry.
