Former India cricketer and four-time IPL winner Suresh Raina believes Mumbai Indians (MI), with their formidable power-hitters, have a significant edge over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the re-match between the two teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, to be played at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday evening. CSK had emerged victorious over MI by four wickets in their season opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on March 23. But after that, both teams that have bagged five IPL trophies each have been in the bottom half of the points table – MI at the seventh spot and CSK rooted in the bottom place.

“MI looks very, very strong. They won a very, very good game in Delhi. Against CSK’s top-order, Trent Boult’s role will be critical because he bowls a good line and has a good yorker. Tilak Varma is in a different gun form. So, here I feel MI has the upper hand over CSK because they have a lot of power hitters. Karn Sharma is in good flow and has played for CSK as well.”

“This game is important for both teams because the matches they win from now onwards will help them climb up in the points table. It is a very, very important match for CSK, as MI are already coming after wins. If CSK wins, then the league stage pool will become a lot more interesting,” said Raina, a JioStar expert, to IANS in a virtual interaction, ahead of the upcoming week of the tournament, starting from Sunday, labelled as “Revenge Week”.

Raina also felt CSK’s bowling attack, spearheaded by left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad (12 wickets), left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (11 wickets), and right-arm fast-bowler Matheesha Pathirana, shaped as crucial figures for their success against MI. “The ones who can prove to be true ace players for CSK are Matheesha Pathirana and Khaleel Ahmed.”

“Not to forget, the way Noor Ahmed has bowled, because you will see Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Rohit Sharma – they all play a lot of sweep shots. So, their strength in the middle overs is the wrong ‘un and can slip in a slider as well. So, they will have to play against him a little carefully there,” he added.

At the Wankhede Stadium, the Mumbai Indians have won seven times against the CSK, while suffering five defeats in IPL games.

“I remember whenever we played at Wankhede, the toss used to be very vital. The power-play of six overs, whether you are defending or setting targets, it is very important to bat very well in those six overs,” he said.

“If you lose one wicket in six overs on this wicket, whether the total is 70, 80, or 90, who handles the pressure better amongst these two teams with five trophies each, will be the key. But as I said, MI has the upper hand over CSK,” added Raina.

He also highlighted that CSK’s batting order hasn’t shown the required intent and willingness to reduce the number of dot balls. As per statistics from Cricket-21, CSK have played 297 dot balls, which is just marginally less than KKR’s 301 dot balls. But in terms of balls per boundary and boundary percentage, CSK are the worst team with figures of 6.6 and 51.71 per cent respectively.

“I think the intent is missing because we’re losing a lot of wickets in power-play, and CSK has been playing a lot of dot balls. They have to have that mindset of playing the least number of dot balls and looking to rotate the strike. When you’re batting in the first six overs, you have to go hard in power play.”

“Then the game will change from overs 7-14, where you can identify the bowler for hitting fours and sixes, as well as use their pace and run hard between the wickets. You have to play less number of dot balls, and if CSK has to beat MI, they have to play their A game,” concluded Raina.

Catch Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at 3:30 PM and Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings at 7:30 PM on Sunday in an electrifying IPL 2025 Revenge Week from April 20-27, live and exclusively on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network.

–IANS

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)