IPL 2015: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings - 5 things to look forward to

Two-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings square-off against Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier of the 2015 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). CSK finished at the top of the league table and are pursuing their third IPL title. However, they have a difficult task in hand as they come up against the Mumbai Indians, who look unstoppable at the moment, in their own backyard – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Let’s have a look at 5 things to look forward to in this game:

1. Dwayne Bravo vs Kieron Pollard

Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have had some interesting battles over the seasons

The mouth-watering battle between the West Indian duo of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard makes today’s encounter all the more interesting. Although they are close friends off the field and like to enjoy their time, they are also tough competitors who never shy away from having a word or two with the opposition. With both players playing similar roles for their respective franchises, their battle might well decide the final outcome of the match.

While Pollard hasn’t had the greatest of seasons for Mumbai, Bravo has been as consistent as ever, scoring 166 runs and taking 20 wickets from 14 matches.

2. Michael Hussey returns to the CSK side

Michael Hussey expected to come in for Brendon McCullum

With New Zealand’s Test series against England beginning on Thursday, Brendon McCullum will not be available for CSK during the play-offs. Considering the New Zealander’s imperious form in recent months, it is undoubtedly a big blow to Chennai but they couldn’t have a better replacement than Michael Hussey. After all, Hussey is CSK’s 3^rd highest run-scorer ever with 1692 runs from 47 matches at an average of 43.38.

The 39-year-old Hussey was with Chennai Super Kings from 2008 to 2013 before being bought by Mumbai Indians for the 2014 season. After playing for Mumbai for one season, Hussey was bought back by CSK for this season of the IPL.

3. Face-off between MI and CSK spinners

Will R Ashwin or Harbhajan Singh have the bigger impact?

Spinners have played a huge part in the success of both Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the past and that is likely to be the case once again. While spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi have done extremely well for CSK by managing to not only take wickets regularly but contain the batsmen, the Mumbai spinners Harbhajan Singh and Jagadeesha Suchith have complemented their fast bowlers brilliantly by making sure that they don’t ease the pressure.

It will be interesting to see which team’s spinners come out on top in today’s game and help their team earn a berth in the final.

4. Suresh Raina and his love for the play-offs

Suresh Raina has historically done well in the play-offs

Suresh Raina has been the go-to man for Chennai Super Kings since the inception of the India Premier League. His records speak for himself as he is the first and only person to score over 3500 runs in the IPL and also holds the record of playing the most number of matches in the IPL.

His contributions during the play-offs in past years have been the key reason for CSK’s success in the IPL. His scores of 55 off 34 deliveries against KXIP in the 2008 semifinal, 57* off 35 against MI in the 2010 final, 73* off 50 against RCB in the 2011 edition, 73 off 38 against KKR in the 2012 final and 82* off 42 against Mumbai in the first qualifier of 2013 illustrate his ability when it comes to the big games. Though he has not been in the great form in this year’s IPL, it won’t be a huge surprise if we see some fireworks from him during the play-offs.

5. CSK and MI – IPL’s best rivalry?

Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have played each other 22 times, the most between any two teams in the IPL, in the past with both teams winning 11 times each, illustrating how evenly matched the two sides are.

The two teams have faced each other twice in the final of the IPL, with CSK emerging victorious in 2010 while MI managed to get their own back in 2013. The highest run-scorer in the IPL from these two teams is none other than CSK’s Suresh Raina while the leading wicket-taker is Mumbai’s Lasith Malinga.