This was a hard fought Indian Premier League, but the two best teams have ended up on top – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. They are joined in the top 4 by Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
To be fair, Mumbai Indians, CSK and Sunrisers almost always make it to the last 4. There is only one slot that changes all the time and that slot has gone to Delhi Capitals in IPL 2019.
That’s a story for tomorrow. Coming back to tonight’s game, it’s going to be an exciting contest between CSK’s highly experienced spinners and Mumbai’s batting power. Mumbai’s spin attack is nowhere in the class of that of CSK’s but they have far superior pace attack, led by Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s greatest fast bowler right now.
CSK’s batting has not really been that good. If not for MS Dhoni’s heroics, they would have lost many more games. Mumbai’s batting at the top has been inconsistent, but Hardik Pandya has been in superlative form coming late in the batting line-up. This is his best IPL yet and he has really announced his arrival as a leading all-rounder.
Rohit Sharma, however, has much to prove. He has done virtually nothing in IPL 2019, so it’s time he came good. Quinton De Kock has done pretty well for Mumbai, but he would appreciate more support at the top.
As for CSK – Their top 4 of Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, and Ambati Rayudu has been highly inconsistent. They need to do much, much better if CSK has to win IPL 2019. Can’t rely on Dhoni for everything!
The Teams
Mumbai Indians: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Ishan Kishan, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Anukul Roy, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Dhruv Shorey, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Imran Tahir
Prediction: Impossible to predict this one. Both teams are equally strong and at the top of their game, and are likely to meet once again in the final of the IPL 2019 on Sunday. But on current form, we back Mumbai Indians to win.
