The 3rd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on 23rd March at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Match Preview:
Both Mumbai and Chennai will kickstart their IPL 2025 campaign with this game and reignited the most storied IPL rivalry.
But now instead of MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Hardik Pandya took over the legacy, respectively. However, if we talk about Mumbai, their last season campaign was not ideal, it was a rock bottom and if anything Pandya was criticised.
Although he won’t be captaining the side in the 1st game of the tournament because of the over-rate offence last season. So, in his absence Surya Kumar Yadav will lead the side.
One more concern about Mumbai is the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who is recovering from the injury he picked during Australia series and will be available probably in April.
Mumbai have new players in Ryan Rickelton. He has an exceptional record for MI Cape Town in the SA20 with 1000+ runs (44 avg, 163 SR). He will probably make his IPL debut today and is expected to be a key player for the Mumbai Indians.
And in the absence of Bumrah, Mumbai will be hoping that Trend should chip in with some extra magical moments during and post Powerplay.
Talking about Chennai Super Kings, this year they will be without Deepak Chahar. Chahar has played all his games for CSK but this will be the first time the player will be up against CSK.
For CSK, the captain Gaikwad will be the key player. Over the last two seasons, Gaikwad has amassed 1,173 runs at a stellar average of 46.9 and an impressive strike rate of 144.3. So, Chennai will be hoping that their captain keeps on performing.
Besides the captain, Shivam Dube has proved to be a revelation for the side. Ever since he has joined the team, he has amassed 1,103 runs at an impressive average of 34.5 and an outstanding strike rate of 159.2.
His spin game is amazing as well as he has scored 296 runs against spin at a blistering strike rate of 170.11—second only to Heinrich Klaasen in terms of runs scored at a superior strike rate.
Probable Playing XI:
Chennai Super Kings (probable): 1 Devon Conway/Rachin Ravindra, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Deepak Hooda/Vijay Shankar, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8. MS Dhoni (wk), 9 R Ashwin, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Matheesha Pathirana, 12 Khaleel Ahmed/Anshul Kamboj
Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Naman Dhir, 6 Robin Minz, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Corbin Bosch/Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Trent Boult, 12 Satyanarayana Raju/Ashwani Kumar
Pitch and weather report:
A slow track that can favor spin is anticipated for Sunday’s match, which could force both teams to field three frontline spinners. But the new IPL regulation that permits the bowling team to switch the ball after the tenth over in nighttime matches may lessen the effect of dew, which was a major role in earlier tournaments.
Head-to-head record:
With 37 meetings, the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians enjoy a long and illustrious rivalry. With 20 victories, the Mumbai Indians have a slim lead over the Chennai Super Kings, who have won 17 times. Their interactions have never ended in a draw.
Prediction:
Given how CSK beat Mumbai Indian in their last meeting and how Mumbai were below-par in the last season, Chennai is expected to win the upcoming encounter.
Where to Watch:
India: Star Sports Network, JioHotstar
Australia: Kayo TV, FoxTel Go
Bangladesh: T Sports, Toffee app
New Zealand: Sky Sports NZ
South Africa: SuperSport
Sri Lanka: Dialog
UK: Sky Sports, SkyGo
USA: Willow TV
Afghanistan: ATN
MENA: Cricbuzz
