IPL 2019, CSK vs MI: One bold change Chennai Super Kings should make

The Chennai Super Kings will take on the Mumbai Indians for the second time in IPL 2019, on Friday, April 26, in Chennai. CSK lead the IPL points table with eight wins from 11 games, while MI are in third position with six wins from 10 matches.

After two back-to-back defeats, the Super Kings returned to winning ways with a convincing victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday. Shane Watson getting his groove back was the highlight of the game for the CSK camp, with the Australian smashing 96 runs off 53 balls.

On the other hand, Mumbai Indians had a tough outing against the Rajasthan Royals last weekend, with MI losing the match by 5 wickets.

With Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar performing well, CSK don’t have much woes with the bowling department. But their batting has been inconsistent, barring Dhoni. With 314 runs from 10 matches at an average of 105, the skipper has been excellent throughout the tournament.

One bold change that the Chennai Super Kings should make before their next game against the Mumbai Indians is replacing Ambati Rayudu with Dhruv Shorey. Rayudu has not been in great form this season, managing just 213 runs in 11 matches at an average of 23.66. His strike rate is also below 100 in this IPL and currently stands at 90.63. His four recent scores read - 21 off 25 balls against SRH, 29 off 29 balls against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, 25 off 21 balls against SRH and 5 off 11 balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Shorey is a technically sound batsman from Delhi, who has piled up runs in the Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. His gritty century against Vidarbha in the final of 2017-18 Ranji Trophy showed how classy a batsman he is. Shorey, who is yet to feature in the IPL this season, played just a solitary game for CSK last year.

Probable XI – Chennai Super Kings

Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Dhruv Shorey, Kedar Jadhav, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C, WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir.

Players on the bench: Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Ambati Rayudu, N Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mitchell Santner, Scott Kuggeleijn, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Monu Kumar

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