Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians Prediction

CSK Team News

Chennai Super Kings made just one change last time out, with Harbhajan Singh returning for their home match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The veteran spinner tends to play at the M. A. Chidambaram and so is likely to retain his place ahead of Shardul Thakur. With Dwayne Bravo fit again and back in the team, there are unlikely to be further changes.

CSK Key Players

Shane Watson smashed nine fours and six sixes as he hit 96 from 53 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad, getting back to his T20 best and passing 8,000 runs in the format in the process. Though he fell just short of a seventh T20 century, that was his 46th half-century.

Watson is now just two runs behind Suresh Raina, who scored 38 from 24 last time out to bounce back from his golden duck in the loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Raina has 245 runs, including one unbeaten half-century.

MS Dhoni is their top run-scorer with 314 runs in seven innings, averaging more than 100 and with a strike rate of 137.11. Dhoni almost judged the chase against Bangalore perfectly – his unbeaten 84 not quite enough as he took control in the final overs.

Faf du Plessis now has 179 runs from seven innings, meanwhile, and the South African captain is capable of turning it on at the top of the order too.

In the bowling department, Imran Tahir and Deepak Chahar sat second and third in the wicket-taking charts after the win against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Tahir has 16 wickets and Chahar has 14, with both going at less than seven runs per over.

Harbhajan Singh has tended to feature only in home games and he has nine wickets from five matches, including two last time out, with an economy rate only a fraction above a run a ball.

CSK Team Form

Chennai had faltered slightly with back-to-back defeats – only their second and third of the tournament so far – before roaring back to form last time out. First, they posted just 132/5 as they suffered a six-wicket defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad to end a four-match winning streak.

Then, MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 84 from 48 balls was not quite enough against Royal Challengers Bangalore – the Chennai captain failing to connect with the final ball of the innings as the Super Kings finished on 160/8 in reply to 161/7.

But they bounced back last time out, with Shane Watson in explosive form. Facing Sunrisers again, the Aussie blasted 96 from 53 balls as Chennai chased 176 to win by four wickets with one ball to spare.