IPL 2021: Match 30 – Strongest Mumbai Indians (MI) Predicted Playing XI against Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Traditionally slow-starters, Mumbai Indians do not have that luxury this time around – they are situated fourth on the table, with four wins and three losses.

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Trent Boult
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Trent Boult. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Welcome to Act I, Scene II. It’s that time again. The second leg, second instalment or whatever you may want to term this as, it could not have started any better. After a dreary halt in May this year, the action resumes with IPL’s El Classico: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings.

A lot has transpired in the time that has lapsed in between. And the memories bound to have paled. If that’s the case, here’s a quick look at these two teams’ Delhi meet from the first half of the league.

Traditionally slow-starters, Mumbai Indians do not have that luxury this time around – they are situated fourth on the table, with four wins and three losses, having endured a tough start in the unsuitable low and slow Chennai tracks. However, Rohit Sharma’s men did well to bounce back and gather some momentum in Delhi, before Covid-19 threw things in tatters. As they resume their 2021 campaign, here’s the potential artillery they would need.

Predicted Playing XI of Mumbai Indians (MI) for IPL 2021 Match 30:

Openers – Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock

Rohit Sharma was easily Mumbai’s best batter in the first half, having scored 250 runs at a strike rate of 128.40. His partner Quinton de Kock, who missed the opening encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore being quarantined before joining the team for the next six games, endured a difficult passage in Chennai. However, his fortunes changed once the Delhi leg of the tournament commenced.

He remained unbeaten on 70 from 50 in what proved to be a match-winning knock during MI’s 7-wicket win over RR, while he got a 28-ball 38 against CSK in a 219-chase that had set the tone of MI’s chase. He will resume the season averaging 31, having scored 155 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 117.42, which he would want to improve in the second leg. To that end, there is good news as de Kock’s recent form inspires confidence: 255 runs in 5 innings at 141.67 vs West Indies and 153 in 3 innings at 121.43 vs Sri Lanka in their backyard, where the pitches are somewhat similar to those in the UAE.

Middle-order – Suryakumar, Ishan Kishan 

Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan
Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. (Photo Source: Twitter)

For two players who have been one of the most – if not the most – bankable for their team, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan did little during the first half of the tournament. With scores of 28 (19), 1 (3), 12 (21), 26 (28) and 6 (17), Kishan could not hold on to his place in the side as he was dropped from the XI against Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Suryakumar Yadav, too, flew under the radar, getting starts each time only to throw his wicket away. Until the season suspension, he had 173 runs at 24.71 in seven innings. However, unlike Yadav, who scored his runs at a 144.16 strike rate, Kishan’s underwhelming 82.95 was enough for him to be sacked.

That said, given the tournament is back in UAE, MI’s hopes from both Yadav and Kishan would be at the pinnacle as they had set the tournament alight in 2020. Kishan smashed 516 runs at 57.33 and strike rate 145.76, including 30 sixes, while Yadav amassed 480 at a strike rate of 145 himself, playing a crucial role in Mumbai Indians’ fifth IPL triumph.

All-rounders – Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya

Kieron Pollard & Hardik Pandya
Kieron Pollard & Hardik Pandya. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Terming IPL’s first-leg a nightmare for Hardik Pandya would be an understatement. How else does one explain an average of 8.66, a strike rate of 118.18 and 52 runs from seven innings? Despite not reaching in the 20s even once, the management persisted with Pandya, giving him a run in each of the seven games this season. Notably, Pandya did not bowl even a single ball, however, he is expected to be back with his all-round duties in the second leg.

For his part, the senior of the Pandya brothers did not have much business in the first leg either. Krunal, who has 100 runs in seven innings this season, started the tournament on an ominous note, with his scores reading 7, 15, 3*, 1, 3 in the Chennai leg. However, things turned around for the good for Pandya in Delhi, where he scored quick-fire 39 and 32 against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, respectively. With the ball, he has scalped three wickets. Either way, the scope of improvement for both Pandyas remains immense as their team heads forward.

Kieron Pollard was the difference between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings during their last meet when he singlehandedly turned the game around. His unbeaten 34-ball 87 led Mumbai to pull off a heist and affect the league’s highest run-chase, while with the ball too, Pollard claimed a couple of wickets. More recently, Pollard finished one amongst 2021 CPL’s top-scorers, with 261 runs at 158.18 for Trinbago Knight Riders.

Bowlers – Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar

Trent Boult
Trent Boult. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

New Zealand’s tearaway pacer Adam Milne has been in scintillating form of late, and certainly warrants a place in the side ahead of Nathan Coulter-Nile. Milne topped the wicket-taking charts in the inaugural edition of The Hundred, where he scalped 12 wickets in eight innings for Birmingham Phoenix at an impressive average and economy of 10.75 and 5.73, respectively. In the first leg of 2021 IPL, he was included only once – against Sunrisers Hyderabad – when he returned with figures of 0/33, but on recent evidence, he seems a sure starter.

As does, of course, Jasprit Bumrah, who is coming after plenty of red-ball action against England. While he had a staggeringly successful series against England, Bumrah resumes the IPL with his recent-most outing being his worst-ever: he leaked 56 runs on an off day against CSK, his most expensive spell in the IPL. With only 6 wickets in his kitty from seven games this season, Bumrah has not been at the prime of his IPL form.

Story for Bumrah’s IPL accomplice Trent Boult unfurled in a similar way in the first leg, as he has 8 wickets from seven games, far from his 25-wicket 2020 exploits. Ever since the IPL suspension, Boult played just two encounters, both being Tests in England.

Rahul Chahar reaped the rewards of his consistent IPL exploits as he was named in India’s 15-man T20 World Cup squad. With the tournament slated in the same venue only days after IPL’s conclusion, this remains Chahar’s chance to acclimatize himself with the UAE conditions and make use of them to the best of his advantage. At the time of resumption, Chahar already has 11 wickets from seven games at an economy rate of 7.21, which includes match-turning spells against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.

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