The bottom two meet in what is effectively a dead rubber in the Indian Premier League on Thursday when the Chennai Super Kings take on the Mumbai Indians in a clash which would have had plenty of anticipation had it not been for the poor campaign of both.
Usually this is a standout fixture, especially when the two sides meet at the Wankhede Stadium like they do here, but with neither able to reach the final stages of the competition we might get a glimpse of the future rather than the present instead.
Chennai Super Kings
This clearly hasn’t been the campaign that the Chennai Super Kings would have wanted from their title defence. It was a defence which never got going in all truth. The warning signs were there when the men in yellow switched captains so close to the start of the season and at no stage really have they convinced until their last match when they finally put in a complete performance. Whether it is a coincidence that display came after they switched captains back to MS Dhoni again only they will know.
The one thing their win over the Delhi Capitals showed us is that they have the batting unit to be competitive this term. What they need to show is that performance wasn’t a flash in the pan and that they can build on it. That would just leave their bowling attack to be worked on when the auction comes around next season. They bowled well against the Capitals but Dwayne Bravo’s skills are starting to wane and he’ll need replacing at some point.
Mumbai Indians
This is the worst season anyone can remember from the Mumbai Indians. I think looking back after seeing what we have this was always going to be a season of transition. There is the saying that you never know what you’ve got until it has gone and when you see the hole the loss of the Pandya brothers has left there is certainly something in that. Quinton de Kock has been another big loss for the Indians so while this is a season of transition for them, it can’t possible have gone the way they wanted or expected.
The simple fact is at no stage this season has either their batting or their bowling looked convincing enough. There were a couple of matches where their bowlers got the batters out of trouble but rarely has it worked the other way around. It will be interesting to see if they start looking ahead to the future and build the side around the likes of Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs, although how they balance their overseas players if they want to do that would be open to debate.
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Key Players
With Ravi Jadeja now out for the tournament with his rib injury Moeen Ali is going to gain in importance. His clean hitting would always be useful on this ground but now his spin bowling is going to be utilised earlier so he needs to have a big impact.
Daniel Sams has delivered the goods with the ball when he closed out the win over the Gujarat Titans two matches ago but he hasn’t contributed with the bat and if he is to remain with the Indians he probably needs to show something in that department as well.
Betting
Kieron Pollard hasn’t had the tournament he would have wanted I think that is fair to say. He has barely contributed with the bat but you would imagine he is going to click at some point, especially when you consider that Mumbai can play with freedom, and if he is going to come good with the bat then you would imagine it would be here at the Wankhede where he has regularly destroyed bowling attacks over the last half a dozen seasons.
While he hasn’t contributed with the bat, his bowling is being utilised more with each match that goes on and the last time Mumbai played on this ground Pollard took two wickets. His fielding is still right up there and he’ll be in all the key positions and against a Chennai side that are running every bit as hot and cold as Mumbai are, this should be a match the former West Indies captain can impress in. That makes me think his performance line of 23.5 is on the low side. I’m happy to take the over here.
Tips
Back K.Pollard’s Performance – Over 23.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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