Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians are the two most successful teams in the history of the Indian Premier League. While CSK has won the IPL title thrice, Mumbai has won it four times.
Have you ever wondered if there is an all-time XI of the best players of CSK and MI, how will it look like? We have picked some of the most consistent players of these two teams over the years and formed an all-time XI.
Here is the all-time XI of CSK and MI:
Openers (Shane Watson, Rohit Sharma)
Shane Watson has been playing for CSK for only a couple of years, but he has made a massive difference for the franchise.
Watson won CSK the IPL 2018 title with a match-winning hundred in the final and he very nearly replicated that in the final of IPL 2019 as well where he scored 90 odd and took CSK very close to the target, however the men in yellow fell short by just one run.
Rohit Sharma has captained Mumbai Indians to four IPL titles which are the most by any IPL captain ever. The right-handed opener will always be there in any all-time XI that is formed involving Mumbai Indians.
Middle Order (Suresh Raina, Suryakumar Yadav, MS Dhoni, Kieron Pollard)
Suresh Raina is second in the list of the all-time highest run-scorers in the IPL. The left-hander has scored 5368 runs in 193 IPL games at a strike rate of 137.11 and he has scored most of his runs batting at no. 3 for CSK.
Suryakumar Yadav is a wonderful player of spin and is an ideal fit for no. 4. He bats at no. 4 even for Mumbai these days as he has the ability to not only manipulate the strike against the spinners but to play the big shots as well.
MS Dhoni and Kieron Pollard are two of the best finishers in the IPL ever. Both of them are in the top 10 in the list of the highest six hitters in the IPL even though they bat lower down the order and don’t get as many deliveries to face as the top order.
Dhoni has hit 209 sixes in the IPL so far, while Pollard has hit 176.
All-rounder (Hardik Pandya)
Hardik Pandya at no. 7 provides balance to the XI. He has got the power game to bat in the latter stages of the innings and he can also be the fifth bowler of the side.
Pandya has, so far, played 61 innings in the IPL and has scored 1068 runs at an average of 28.86. But, more than the average, what makes Pandya an impact player is his strike rate which is 154.78.
Pandya, apart from scoring runs at a rapid rate for Mumbai Indians, has also grabbed 42 wickets with the ball so far.
Bowlers (Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah)
Harbhajan Singh is the third-highest wicket-taker of all time in the IPL and he is one of those very few players who have played for both MI and CSK. Harbhajan, who is currently a part of the CSK squad, has got 150 wickets in 160 IPL games at an average of 26.44.
Imran Tahir has got the best bowling strike rate among all the bowlers who have got at least 50 wickets in the IPL. The South African leg spinner, who won the purple cap last year, has 79 scalps to his name in 55 games at a strike rate of 15.5.
Nobody has got more wickets in the IPL than Lasith Malinga. He is an automatic pick in this all-time XI. The Sri Lankan legend has grabbed 170 wickets in just 122 IPL matches at an average of 19.80.
Bumrah, at the moment, is not up there in the list of the highest wicket-takers in the IPL, but that’s only because he has not played as many IPL games as some of the other bowlers have. However, the skill-set that Bumrah has shown in the last 4 years is second to none. Bumrah has 82 wickets in 77 IPL games so far.
