Mumbai: Mumbai Indians (MI) need twin strikes of Rohit Sharma coming back to form and a spot-on captaincy against MS Dhoni's shrewd plotting as they take on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in what could be called the battle of champions in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Saturday.
After a week-long rest that followed with the lopsided victory of the Royal Challengers Bangalore over them, MI will look to get back on the winning side in front of cricket-crazy fans of Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. The win is a much-need one after Virat Kohli's lone innings demolished and demoralised Mumbai as they step onto the ground to put behind the defeat and begin afresh.
They will surely be benefited from the lack of experience of CSK's Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Tushar Deshpande, who were issued a warning by their captain Dhoni at the post-match presentation for conceding too many extras through wide and no-balls and the duo would find it doubly hard to challenge the Mumbai batters with the pitch mostly favoring the batters.
It would also be up to the spinners Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner to make sure that the bowling looks intact in the face of some hard-hitting batters of Mumbai. Sisanda Magala, who can bowl wide yorkers at will might have a chance to don the Mumbai jersey by replacing Santner in the playing XI. Meanwhile, skipper Rohit Sharma whose runs have dried up in the last few seasons despite getting the starts, and has not been able to help the team's cause with big, blistering innings has eluded the captain from making a mark.
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Mumbai's fate would also depend on their prime bowler Jofra Archer's performance who has to take up the mantle in the absence of star bowler Jasprit Bumrah. Others such as Arshad Khan, and Cameron Green might be easy meat on a strip that largely supports batting. Short, side dimensions of the ground will aid Chennai that possesses heavy weights like Ruturaj Gaikwad or Devon Conway.
Bumrah's absence owing to injury has been consistently felt in the team's composition. However, MI has done well in replacing Jhye Richardson with Australian quick Riley Meredith and by bringing Sandeep Warrier into the fold. Despite Wankhede being a batting paradise, it still offers early assistance to fast bowlers and Mumbai would look to grab that opportunity with both hands as CSK has looked susceptible and vulnerable in this department in the past two matches.