Big picture: CSK's hopes starting to fade

Had either of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) had a result or two not go their way in the last few days in IPL 2025, the "El Clasico" narrative of this rivalry would have turned into "L Clasico". CSK managed to break their five-match losing streak and will look for another win on the road, against MI, on Sunday evening.

If results from nearly a month ago still instill some sort of confidence, CSK could have a feel-good factor in how they had won at home last month at the start of the tournament, but MI have since got back Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah to their side.

MI themselves had been grappling with two losses at the start of IPL 2025 but have picked themselves up in all facets of the game to win both at home and away, on different kind of surfaces, and batting first and chasing. Barring Rohit Sharma, whose form continues to be a concern, their top order has started scoring freely, their middle order is hitting boundaries at a good clip, and the all-international bowling attack has started to function like a well-oiled machine, as was seen in their last game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

CSK, despite beating a strong LSG side, are still trying to put their pieces together with several players still far from at their best, which has forced their think tank to look to younger options, as head coach Stephen Fleming said on match eve. After a strong bowling performance against LSG that would ease some of their worries before walking out at the Wankhede, CSK will now hope their batting steps up.

Form guide

Mumbai Indians WWLLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Chennai Super Kings WLLLL

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In the spotlight: Rohit Sharma and Shivam Dube

Shivam Dube has struck at 128.57 this IPL, a steep slide from his 150-plus strike rates in the last three seasons. He has improved in the last couple of games after sub-20 scores at the start, but still, scores of 43* off 37 and 31* off 29 suggest that he isn't at his best yet. Oppositions have also started to keep spinners away from him to try and keep him quiet. Dube now returns to his domestic home ground where he once hit five sixes in an over in a Ranji Trophy game, and will hope familiar conditions help him hit the pedal.

Almost everything is falling in place for MI, except for Rohit Sharma's form. Batters around him and after him are all scoring while his average for the season has dipped to just 13.66, having faced 57 balls this IPL. Since Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks - his partners in the top three - have looked good in the last few games, this could take some burden off Rohit's shoulders to try and get out of this rut.

Team news: Brevis links up with CSK

Legspinner Karn Sharma had split a webbing in his bowling hand while fielding in their last game and is unlikely to play against CSK after getting a couple of stitches on the hand. Depending on the conditions for this game, MI could bring in either left-arm wristspinner Vignesh Puthur or left-arm quick Ashwani Kumar, who took 4 for 24 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) the last time he played at the Wankhede.

Mumbai Indians 1 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Will Jacks, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Naman Dhir, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Vignesh Puthur/Ashwani Kumar

Dewald Brevis has joined the CSK squad as a replacement player and is available for the game even though he didn't train a whole lot since reaching India. Fleming said on Saturday that they are likely to give some of the younger players, such as bowling allrounder Ramakrishna Ghosh and fast bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti, more chances. Ravindra Jadeja is set to continue at No. 4.

Chennai Super Kings 1 Rachin Ravindra, 2 Shaik Rasheed, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Ravindra Jadeja, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 Jamie Overton, 9 Anshul Kamboj, 10 Noor Ahmad, 11 Khaleel Ahmed, 12 Matheesha Pathirana

The big question

Pitch and conditions

Having lost to CSK in their opening game on a slow turner at Chepauk, MI would not want the kind of spin-friendly pitch they played on against SRH for the CSK game, especially without Karn, and with Noor Ahmad, Jadeja and Rachin Ravindra in the opposition camp. Their batting plans are falling in place, which means a high-scoring track - like the one against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) - may suit them better. Whatever the pitch, the team winning the toss is expected to chase as there has been some dew in Mumbai in hot and humid conditions.

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Stats and trivia: Dhoni vs Bumrah

• Khaleel Ahmed bowled an impressive first spell of 3-0-22-1 against LSG and he will want to bowl to Rohit on Sunday because of this match-up: 28 runs in 43 balls for three dismissals and no sixes.

• Jadeja could have a similar feeling while bowling to Suryakumar Yadav, which could happen in the middle overs. Jadeja has conceded just 47 runs to Suryakumar in 62 balls while removing him three times.

• MS Dhoni is known to prefer pace bowlers as opposed to spinners. How he tackles Jasprit Bumrah could be interesting because he has scored just 60 runs off 61 balls against Bumrah in the IPL, hitting only three fours and two sixes while also falling three times. In the death overs, Dhoni has struck at 110.25 against Bumrah, which is only marginally better.

• The fierce rivalry between MI and CSK reflects in their head-to-head too: MI have won 20 out of the 38 clashes between these two teams. But CSK are on a four-match winning streak right now.

Quotes

"This pitch has been a little bit more high-scoring this year. So that's the first thing we look at. But the greatest thing for us is to adapt to whatever it is on the day."
Home or away, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming can't avoid questions on the conditions.

"If it is going to be a slightly slower wicket like last game, we know he's going to be a challenge. You've got to be quite smart against him. If he gets on a roll, he's pretty tough to stop. As we've seen, he has bowled extremely well."
MI's Mitchell Santner is aware of the threat his former Texas Super Kings team-mate (at MLC) Noor Ahmad can pose