3rd Match Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians

A warm and humid evening. That is a given in Chennai, most times of the year. What isn't easily forecast, even by the CSK skipper, is the nature of the playing surface. CSK's coaching staff have taken turns over the last two years to painstakingly stress that the Chepauk pitch hasn't been the same since 2019. Spin hasn't been an influencing factor and it remains to be seen if a desired course-correction has been achieved. Dew though could play a role. Teams that chased won five of the seven games here last year and chasing might well be the way to go

Head to Head: CSK 17-20 MI. CSK have cut the deficit with wins in the last three faceoffs. Mumbai Indians though hold a 5-3 edge at Chepauk.

If the pitch were to offer any turn, expect Black Caps skipper Mitchell Santner, who has just crossed the yellow-blue divide, to have a major say. But CSK might just have the antidote with as many as four left-handers in their top-six

Ruturaj Gaikwad has been dismissed thrice in 26 balls by Trent Boult for the concession of just 23 runs. It's a match-up that could set the tone for the rest of the game given how influential both players are to their teams' fortunes.

Chennai Super Kings ; Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Shivam Dube, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj
 

Mumbai Indians ; Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Naman Dhir, Robin Minz (wk), Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Satyanarayana Raju/Arjun Tendulkar, Vignesh Puthur