Preview MI vs CSK IPL 2021, Match 27, May 1st, Arun Jaitley Stadium. MI vs CSK head to head player stats and records. Team news and match predictions for MI vs CSK.
Key match stats MI vs CSK preview
Venue Stats – Arun Jaitley Stadium
- Average first innings: 163
- Average first innings winning score: 180
- Average powerplay score: 48
- All-time win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 49% / 50%
Find full venue stats and records here
Team form MI vs CSK preview
- MI – WLLWW
- CSK – WWWWW
- Recent meetings: IPL 2020, CSK won by 5 wickets, MI won by 10 wickets
MI vs CSK preview
In any season of the IPL, a match between MI and CSK is special and this year will be no different. For their part, CSK are blazing away at the top of the table with 5 wins on the bounce and unsurprisingly given such a rich vein of form their squad seems to be running around with a real spring in their step at the moment. Looking to stop that momentum is the old enemy in Mumbai Indians who have failed to really get going in this tournament, particularly with bat in hand, but with 3 wins in their back pocket are nicely poised to start picking up the pace in the second half of the round robin.
Of course both sides know how to win the IPL and therefore both will be keenly aware that it’s the teams that peak at the right time that usually take the trophy home at the end of the 2 months. At the same time, doing a bit of early psychological damage to an opponent that you’re likely to face during the knock phase is never a bad thing so today’s game offers a chance for one side to get one up.
In that regard, CSK may still be licking their wounds from the last time these 2 teams met which resulted in a 10 wicket victory for MI. Things could of have even worse for the Super Kings but for a spirited half century from Sam Curran that took them from the brink of a record low total to at least some form of respectability. However, CSK seem to have put those dark days behind them and I think we could be in for a very competitive match here.
MI vs CSK head to head stats
MI bowling vs CSK batting
Mumbai Indians opted for extra bowling resources in their previous game against the Royals by bringing in Nathan Coulter-Nile for to out of sorts Ishan Kishan. That move paid off against a fairly weak RR side but it will be interesting to see if MI risk such a long tail against this CSK team.
For his part, Coulter-Nile looks like a good pick on this surface and you’d imagine that regardless of whether MI opt to continue to pick 3 front line spinners as they have done for their last few games, they’ll likely want to have a back-up seamer to Boult and Bumrah, the position of which has always been the one area of the MI starting XI that has been most fluid.
Of course, extra bowling resources may still be required given the form of the CSK batting line-up. Du Plessis and Gaikwand have been getting better and better with each match while we’ve already seen that the scoring doesn’t tend to slow down when Moeen Ali and Suresh Raini walk to the crease and CSK are then safe in the knowledge that not only do they have a long tail but they have some powerful hitters some of whom are in red hot form!
In this match however, the likes of Ravi Jadeja, Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo, all of who are striking in excess of 200 at the death will come up against the most frugal bowling attacking in the last 5 overs. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We might be about to find out!
In regards player match ups, the battle between du Plessis and Boult at the top of the order could be key. The South African is playing perhaps as well as he ever has in the IPL but he hasn’t always found it easy going against the left-armer from New Zealand as their head to head stats show.
CSK bowling vs MI batting
MI as a squad looked pretty happy to be away from the ultra slow surfaces of Chennai in their last outing and Quinton de Kock in particular must have been relieved given his wretched record at the MA Chidambaram stadium. His return to form was a major boast for Mumbai as they look to start putting up the kind of scores that they know their excellent and varied bowling attack can defend on a regular basis. As far as this match goes, the South African will be up against Deepak Chahar who is CSK’s primary powerplay weapon.
At times, bowling has been CSK’s weaker suit and they seem to like to pick between Lungi Ngidi and Dwyane Bravo in the side. Ngidi of course would give CSK greater options upfront and during the middle overs while Bravo tends to be used exclusively at the death these days. Match-up wise, if they did opt for Bravo then perhaps getting him on early against Rohit Sharma wouldn’t be such a bad option given their head to head stats.
If Mumbai do opt to strengthen their batting line-up for this match and recall Ishan Kishan then he can rest easy in the knowledge that his nemesis at CSK, Imran Tahir, is also struggling to get a game these days. Kishan has been dismissed by Tahir on 5 previous occasions in the IPL for an average of just 9 runs. His record therefore against the remainder of the CSK bowling attack is pretty good!
All IPL player head to head records can be found here
