A comprehensive defeat in their previous match against RR at Jaipur, Saw MI fail to defend an average total of 161 on that given day.

Having won 6 and lost 4 in their first 10 matches, MI has 12 points and an NRR of 0.357.

CSK on the other hand, Are virtually through to the playoffs as they already have 8 victories in their bag in their eleven games, Including five victories at home. CSK's previous match saw the veterans, Watson and Raina return to their own with 96 off 53 balls and 38 off 24 balls respectively, In what became a tricky chase of 176 the target, towards the end, Mainly due to Rayudu's wobbling knock of 21,which took as much as 21 balls but had only one boundary in it .

CSK eventually sealed the match in the penultimate ball, by a 6 wicket margin, when 9 runs were required off the last over

Even though SRH scored 175 -3 in the allotted 20 overs, Only 41 runs came in the last 5 overs, With one wicket falling in that phase.

The pitch in that match, was comparatively very much batting friendly when compared to the other matches played in Chennai.

Manish Pandey got 83 runs in a stand of 115 runs he stitched with Warner for the second wicket.

No MI batsman finds himself in the top 15 run getters at the moment. In the bowling department, Bumrah and Rahul Chahar are amongst the wickets with 11 wickets in 10 matches and 9 wickets in 7 matches. Obviously, The team requires a substantial run from Rohit Sharma to stabilize the team.

CSK is a settled line up now, barring a shaky Rayudu and for the unexplored potential of Jadhav. It is highly unlikely to see Rayudu being benched, Although there is Dhruv Shorey who could take up the slot if given.

It remains to be seen if there are any changes in the lineup to give it back, considering MI had won by 37 runs in the previous round while defending 170.

Will the Pandya brothers be as explosive as they were in the previous match against CSK? Will the likes of Faf, Tahir, and Quinton De Kock make an impression as they would leave for home in a few days?

Time will tell if MI and /or Delhi could stop CSK's unbeaten home run

Trivia: CSK has lost 4 out of their last 5 matches against MI, with the oldest of the 5 fixtures dating back to 2015 May 19th.

CSK's only victory in the last 5 fixtures, Came as a one-wicket win in the team's comeback fixture on 7/4/18.

- Kumaran Kumanan

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