MI Vs CSK Dream11 Team: Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will lock horns in the opening game of IPL 2020 on Saturday. MI has had an upper hand over CSK in their head to head battles in the IPL so far. Out of the 28 games that these two teams have played against each other, MI has won 17, while CSK has won only 11.
Match Info
The match will start at 07:30 PM IST and will be played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The weather forecast says it’s going to be an extremely hot day with the maximum temperature reaching up to 38 degree Celsius. However, the humidity won’t be extremely high.
Team Form
MI faced CSK a total of four times in the last season of the IPL and ended up beating them all four times including the final as well to lift their 4th IPL title. The defeat in the final of IPL 2019 will definitely be hurting CSK as they lost that game by just 1 run.
Venue Stats
The average score batting first at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in T20 internationals is 137, while the average second innings score is 128, which means this has been a low scoring ground in the past.
MI Vs CSK Who Will Win Dream11 Prediction
Most of the CSK players are already past their peak and have not played international cricket for more than a year. MI’s scenario is totally different as they have got players who are either at their peak or are approaching their peak. So, the reigning champions are the favorites to win this high profile encounter.
MI playing 11 (expected): Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
CSK playing 11 (expected): Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi
Captain choices
Kieron Pollard: Kieron Pollard has got a fantastic record against CSK over the years. The West Indies white ball captain has played 22 games against CSK and has scored 449 runs at an average of 34.54 and a strike rate of 167.54. Pollard is the man in form as well, as he was declared the man of the tournament in the recently concluded CPL 2020.
Shane Watson: Shane Watson, although he has been away from competitive cricket for a while, has looked in crisp touch in a couple of practice games that CSK has played. The 39-year old former Australian international is CSK’s most explosive batsman and if he gets going early, he might put CSK on the driving seat.
Vice-captaincy choices
Surya Kumar Yadav: Surya Kumar Yadav is another player who enjoys batting against the CSK attack as he has got an average of over 36 against the men in yellow. Surya Kumar is someone who will be ideally suited to the conditions as well, as he has the ability to manipulate the spinners on slow surfaces.
Ambati Rayudu: Ambati Rayudu is likely to bat at no. 3 for CSK this season in Suresh Raina’s absence and he will try and bat through the innings. Rayudu is also a wonderful player of spin bowling as he can use the depth of the crease and can go down the pitch as well. He will be another vital player in the CSK top order along with Watson.
