IPL 2020 prediction, MI vs CSK: Can Chennai Super Kings gun down 163 in Abu Dhabi opener?
IPL 2020, MI vs CSK prediction: Chennai Super Kings were jolted early as they lost Shane Watson and Murali Vijay inside the 1st 2 overs of their 163-run chase against Mumbai Indians in the opening match in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
In Short
- Mumbai Indians were restricted to 162 in the IPL 2020 opener
- CSK's chase got off to a poor start as they lost Watson and Vijay early
- Earlier, Lungi Ngidi, Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla impressed witht the ball
Chennai Super Kings were dealt with an early blow as they lost seasoned opener Shane Watson in the very 1st over of their 163-run chase against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 season opener.
New recruit Trent Boult swung one in to trap Shane Watson in front to jolt CSK and give MI a great start to their defence. Watson had a long chat with fellow opener Murali Vijay but he decided not to review and walked back to the hut after having just made 4 runs.
Soon after CSK were dealt with another blow as James Pattinson, who replaced Lasith Malinga, trapped Mrali Vijay in front for 1.
CSK opted to open with Vijay and Watson while Faf du Plessis, their anchor, walked in at No. 3. The onus will be on the South African veteran and the likes of Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni as CSK look to chase a tricky total on a wicket that was a bit two-paced in the first innings.
Despite the early blows for CSK, their chances of winning remain 50:50, Mumbai Indians would want to get that winning percentage up with a few more wickets.
Earlier in the day, Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard failed to trouble the scorers much after Mumbai Indians were sent into bat.
MS Dhoni and CSK pulled things back after a strong start from MI in the opening match. Piyush Chawla got the opening wicket of Rohit Sharma, breaking a 46-run opening stand. Sam Curran got Quinton de Kock soon after.
However, Saurabh Tiwary, who featured in his 1st IPL match since 2017, took on the CSK attack and stitched handy stands with Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav.
Ravindra Jadeja, who was expensive in the day, got the big wickets of Hardik and Saurabh, within a few deliveries in the 15th over as Faf du Plessis took 2 stunning catches at the deep.
Lungi Ngidi jolted MI further towards the end, picking up the big wicket of Kieron Pollard before he could do any major damage. Ngidi, who picked up 3 wickets in his 4-over spell, also got the wicket of Krunal Pandya, who failed to trouble the scorers.