Okay, so this is the one you’ve all been waiting for: Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings.
The two best teams in the competition, the #1 and #2, and it’s no surprise that they are meeting in the final of IPL 2019.
Mumbai Indians and CSK are like the Real Madrid and Barcelona of the IPL. They have won a majority of the IPLs played over the last 12 years. They have both won 6 out of the 11 IPL competitions so far, three each. Tonight we will know which among the two is the most successful IPL team of all time.
Mumbai have a lot going for them. But their star of the show is undoubtedly Hardik Pandya. Hardik has shown just how good he can be in this IPL. He has probably never played better – making 386 runs in the death overs, rescuing his team from defeat time and time again, with a phenomenal strike rate of 170+.
He has been good with the ball as well, bowling fast and accurately, and offering excellent support to the great Lasith Malinga and the brilliant Jasprit Bumrah. Malinga didn’t really do much in the last two IPLs, but this season he looks much fitter and his pace has picked up as well. Bumrah is as lethal as always, and can claim to be the world’s best fast bowler.
As for CSK, it’s all about MS Dhoni. Yes, do they have Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson at the top, as well as other match winners such as DJ Bravo, R. Jadeja and Imran Tahir. But Dhoni is the heart and soul of CSK, which Rohit Sharma, the captain of Mumbai Indians cannot claim to be.
Mumbai Indians can win even when Rohit doesn’t do much with the bat – as they have often. But CSK tends to lose every time Dhoni fails. That is one constant. Dhoni is a general that leads from the front, and how he plays today will decide who wins IPL 2019.
The Teams
Mumbai Indians: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Ishan Kishan, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Kieron Pollard, 8 Ben Cutting, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 M Vijay, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 MS Dhoni, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Imran Tahir
Prediction: It’s a 50/50 contest. Both teams are equally good. It’s impossible to pick a winner here. But CSK have Dhoni, who knows better than anyone as to how to deal with high-pressure situations. So, we are going to take a chance and tip CSK to win IPL 2019!
