The Indian Premier League returns to the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday as the Mumbai Indians play host the defending champions Chennai Super Kings in a match which predictably is already a big one for the home side.
Mumbai have lost two of their opening three matches and really need a win here if they are to keep pace with the top four race. Chennai are yet to be beaten this term and another win here will put daylight between them and much of the field.
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Mumbai Indians
This looked like being a season that followed a typical path when the Mumbai Indians were given a shellacking in their opening match by the Delhi Capitals but they arrested those fears temporarily with a hard fought win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. That was followed by another convincing loss to the Kings Xi Punjab, which leaves them under a little bit of pressure here.
Unusually for the Mumbai Indians though it has been their bowling attack which has let them down thus far in the competition and it is they who are going to need to raise their game in order to keep their hopes alive. There is an issue in the middle order for Mumbai but that isn’t a huge one as Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard are too good not to come to the party at some point.
Chennai Super Kings
If the Chennai Super Kings could have scripted a perfect start to their title defence it would have looked something like the one which they have played out. We would be kidding ourselves to suggest that there haven’t been some difficult periods along the way, not helped by a pretty ordinary pitch in Chepauk, but wins are wins and this Chennai side are becoming masters at picking them up.
We haven’t seen the best of the Chennai batting line up, I think that is fair to say. I say that because they have only gone beyond 160 once in their opening three matches, but it is to the credit of their bowling attack, combined with some indifferent batting from their opponents, that they have maintained an unbeaten record heading into this contest.
Team News
Jason Behrendorff has arrived to reinforce the bowling stocks in Mumbai and given how the Mumbai Indians attack has performed thus far you would think he will make his way into the side. Mitchell McClenaghan could be most vulnerable.
Chennai Super Kings brought Mitchell Santner into their side for their previous match but to say he had a bit of a mare wouldn’t be doing him justice. Harbhajan is highly likely to reclaim his place in an otherwise unchanged side.
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Betting
As ever the Wankhede is not a ground I want to bet on the match outcome without knowing who wins the toss. Delhi defended a total here in the first match this term but they were defending a monster score, the likes we don’t see very often. More often than not the chasing team has a major advantage on this tiny ground, as we’ve seen copious times in the past.
As it is I do like a bet which comes in the form of the boundaries, where a 44.5 line might not be enough given that we saw 59 in the opening match here. Mumbai Indians have only restricted one side below 180 this season and they would have gone beyond that total if they hadn’t completed the run chase. Chennai Super Kings have just shipped 167/8 which would have been 10 more had Rajasthan not folded under pressure. Both these batting line ups are deep, the pitch always plays well and the boundaries are tiny. That all points to plenty of boundaries to me here.
Tips
Back Over 44.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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