Mumbai Indians have lost their opening three matches in the IPL and they will have their work cut out if they are to snap the losing run as they face the mighty CSK at Wankhede stadium on Friday night. With the two sides sharing the spoils in the 18 matches prior to this one, MI have been one of the bogey teams for CSK, including the 2013 IPL final which gave Mumbai their maiden IPL title. But CSK have shown their might in the two matches so far and will look to show who's boss.
MI have started this season much like the last one where they lost their first five matches, before making a remarkable recovery to qualify for the playoff where they were eliminated by today's opponents. The three matches so far have seen isolated efforts being in vain with Rohit Sahrma's 98, Harbhajjan Singh's all round performance against Punjab and Kieron Pollard's quickfire 70 not contributing to victory.Aaron Finch has been ruled out for the season and this should finally give Lendl Simmons a crack at this season's IPL.MI have to arrest the batting collapses if they are to mount a serious challenge against a strong batting side like CSK.
CSK are the most cohesive team in the IPL with a well settled starting line up. With Ravichandran Ashwin seemingly back to his best, the supposed weak bowling line up won't be easy to put away. McCullum and Dhoni were outstanding against SRH, but they might feel a little off action having not played a game since Sunday evening. That absence has seen RR race to the top with four wins in a row. Raina, who missed out in the opeing two matches will be tested on the lively Wankhede track no doubt. But with the likes of Du Plessis and the West Indian pair of Dwayne Smith and Bravo, they have enough batting depth to test the best of attacks.
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