Dubai: The second phase of The Indian Premier League(IPL) 2021 is set to get underway in a blockbuster fashion in UAE as defending champions Mumbai Indians lock horns with Chennai Super Kings in a clash of the titans at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday(September 19).Even though with 19 wins in 32 meetings with their familiar foes, Rohit Sharma’s side might not take things very lightly considering this is a fresh start, and then the format, providing much of the uncertainty.
Also, the position of the table of these two indicates that CSK, despite losing by an inch in the first meeting back in May, certainly has all the tools to throw a challenge. Veteran star, Faf du Plessis is holding the batton for batting with 320 runs in 7 innings alongside a young and promising Ruturaj Gaikwad who will be looking to continue his impressive form.
Ravindra Jadeja can become the X-factor for MS Dhoni’s side and so will be Shardul Thakur whose heroics in the recently concluded 4th Test match against England have made headlines. However, the missing block of Sam Curran might be a concern as he is yet to complete his mandatory quarantine after only arriving last Wednesday.
Mumbai on the other hand has an uncanny knack for making a return to form in the later phases of the IPL. The defending champions will highly rely on their top three comprising Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, and Suryakumar Yadav.
However, the defending champions will look to sort out their lackluster batting performance from their middle order. The Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard will need to step up their game if they want to boost their side’s chances to put on big scores.
 2021 is set to get underway as defending champions Mumbai Indians lock horns with Chennai Super Kings.){kind=link}