The Indian Premier League heads up to Sharjah on Friday for a repeat of what was the opening match of the tournament as the two finalists from last season meet when the Chennai Super Kings take on the Mumbai Indians.
Chennai Super Kings sit bottom of the table going into this match which is not a position we are used to seeing them in. Mumbai Indians have the chance to return to the top of the pile heading into a weekend where both teams will be on show once again.
Chennai Super Kings
When the Chennai Super Kings were beaten with yet another ordinary performance against the Rajasthan Royals it looked like their campaign would be done from a competitive standpoint, however results have gone their way since then and there is still a chance that they could yet qualify for the postseason if they can perform well in their next four matches and win at least three of them, although most likely four wins will be needed.
If that is going to happen then they simply have to get their batting order sorted out. The Sam Curran opening experiment was never really going to work for any longer than the one game it succeeded in and although we are sounding like a broken record they have to give Ravi Jadeja more time in the middle. There is improvement to come with the ball but for whatever reason they seem reluctant to play Imran Tahir.
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians saw their seemingly serene progress to the play-offs halted slightly last time out when they were shocked in a second Super Over by the Kings XI Punjab in a match which was one of the best in the history of the competition. They didn’t do a whole lot wrong in the game but it will still have been disappointing to lose. They do at least get the chance to show what they are made of here though as they look to bounce back in style.
The problem that Mumbai had in that loss to the Kings XI was something we highlighted plenty earlier in the competition but didn’t look like it was ever going to materialise. That was the light looking depth of genuine batsmen and if they lost early wickets, which they finally did in that previous match, there might not be a lot to come to push them up to a big total. That might lead to the Indians looking to get some fresh blood in here to get more players into form in case they are needed come the crunch time.
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Key Men
The Sam Curran experiment will surely come to an end here so it is time for Shane Watson to stand up and be counted for the Chennai Super Kings. A couple of times he has threatened to find some form but not gone through with it. If they are to start a winning run his bat needs to do some damage.
Rohit Sharma has gone a little quiet by his high standards but when a side want to recover from a loss it is always a good thing if their captain can stand up and be counted. Chennai’s confidence must be fragile so if he get Mumbai off to a fast start half the job might be done.
Betting
It would be a surprise if the Mumbai Indians don’t win this match but the Chennai Super Kings knocked them off in the tournament opener and we’ve just seen Mumbai deliver a surprise loss so I’m not sure I want to be taking restrictive prices on the champions to come out on top in this match. I’m not really in much more of a rush to get involved in the Super Kings either I have to say so I’m heading for a side market for a bet on this match.
The bet I like here is for Kieron Pollard to hit more than 1.5 sixes. It doesn’t need to be pointed out that this ground is nowhere near big enough for him and that was borne out when Mumbai played their only previous match here and the big hitting Trinidadian walloped three sixes. The pitch might have slowed down here over the course of the campaign but Pollard doesn’t need the ball to be coming onto the bat to smack it 60 metres. You can get odds against on Pollard to hit more than 1.5 sixes and when you consider he has hit 17 of them in just seven innings, only one of which has been here, if he is in with enough time he should be clearing this total against a team whose death bowling leaves plenty to be desired.
Tips
VOID – Back K.Pollard – Over 1.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
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