The second part of the double header in the Indian Premier League on Sunday sees the two most famous franchises meeting in the IPL 2025 season once again when the Mumbai Indians play host to the Chennai Super Kings.
These two met in the opening round of matches in the tournament with Chennai running out winners on home soil but Mumbai have improved since then and will be looking for revenge in this iconic clash.
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians could be on course for repeating what is becoming their party piece this season in that they start slowly but build their way into the competition and make sure that they peak when it really matters. Whether the latter part happens we will need to wait and see but certainly they are looking as good now as they have at any stage of the campaign and a win here will level up their ledger ahead of the final six matches where they would need four wins to secure a playoff spot.
Mumbai always need their batters to do some damage and it was that side of the ball that took a while to arrive in the competition. There are still some batters who have a bit to find in terms of achieving their very best form but they are starting to put up the scores that they need to in order to be competitive. That might be helped by having their best bowlers back because teams aren’t scoring the amount of runs they usually would against them.
Chennai Super Kings
The Chennai Super Kings have been an all or nothing franchise in recent seasons and if the first half of the IPL 2025 campaign is anything to go by then this will be one of their nothing terms because they begin the second half of their season bottom of the table and needing to win six of their last seven matches to make the finals given that they have the worst net run rate of any team in the competition. You would have to say that just doesn’t look likely based on what we’ve seen so far.
When you looked at this Chennai side at the beginning of the season it didn’t look dynamic enough at the top of the innings with the bat and the injury to Ruturaj Gaikwad has certainly done nothing to help that. They were without a couple of key bowlers from the past too and don’t really have that Dwayne Bravo type all-rounder to balance the side out. Chennai were probably going to fare competitively in Chennai but you did worry for them away from there and those concerns have come to roost.
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Key Players
Jasprit Bumrah has completely transformed the fortunes of the Mumbai Indians. That was always going to happen because he is an insanely good operator but the way he has come back like he has never been away has been impressive.
You would imagine that at some point the Mumbai Indians batting will need to be slowed down and it might be that the best man to do it is Noor Ahmad. He might not get much help from the wicket but he can at least have some mystery that could cause a pause to any assault.
Betting
This one is a tricky match to bet on because I firmly expect the Mumbai Indians to run out winners and in truth I would be surprised if it is that close, although I would never back a handicap here because teams who have nothing to lose at the end of a chasing innings can swing from the hips on a small ground and backdoor cover a line. I don’t want to trust anything that involves the Chennai Super Kings so in the end I’ve plumped for a top batter bet.
Tilak Varma top scored for the Mumbai Indians in the reverse meeting between these two and I see no reason why he can’t replicate that in this one. He has four scores over 30 in six innings this season including a couple of 50s in his last three knocks so he is going well. When you consider that Ravi Jadeja will be turning the ball into his pads he has a good matchup against one of the middle overs bowlers and Varma is striking the ball nicely should we need him to score quickly to catch up later in the innings. At 11/2 there is plenty of juice in the price for him to top score for a fourth time this season.
Tips
Back T.Varma Top Mumbai Indians Batter for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Sky Bet
