The 12th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, which is going to be the biggest game of the league as two of the most successful teams, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), go against each other at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai tonight i.e. Saturday, April 8 at 7:30 PM IST.
MI prolonged their streak of losing the first game of the season by facing a defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on the previous Sunday. MI return to their Wankede for the first time this season and will look forward to clinching their first victory in front of the home crowd. The top order might have failed in the previous game but the silver lining was the youngsters, Tilak Verma and Neha Wadhera, who counter-attacked after a dismal start. The Mumbai-based team’s bowling line-up is not at its best like its glory years and due to this, the onus of performing well is dependent on the batters. The star pacer, Jofra Archer didn’t click in his debut game for the Mumbai franchise but the team and fans will count on him to perform to his full potential in this mega clash.
On the other end, CSK also witnessed the same fate in their first game as their opponent as they suffered a loss against the defending champions, Gujarat Titans (GT). The four-time champions bounced back in the following game as they won the fixture against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by a frisk. Just like MI, the Chennai franchise is also heavily dependent on the batters with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mahendra Singh Dhoni being the only two who have lived up to their names, so far. CSK’s bowling has been sub-par in their first two games and it could be one of the factors which could restrict them from crossing the finish line in the many more games to come.
Head-to-head:
MI have an upper head in the head-to-head competition against CSK. The two sides squared off on 34 occasions, Mumbai won 20 games and lost on 14 occasions.
In their last outing, which took place in the previous edition, MI won the fixture by five wickets.
Where-to-watch:
TV: Star Sports Network
OTT: JioCinema