The long-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) kicks off on Saturday with the defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on the Chennai Super Kings at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The venue, which opened in May 2004, hosted its first first-class match when Scotland faced Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup in November of that year. The stadium is named after the former president of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. He hosted his first T20I on February 10, 2010, when Afghanistan played Scotland. The last T20I was played between the United Arab Emirates and Canada on October 27, 2019. Chennai Super Kings will play four games at the venue and Mumbai Indians eight.
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In the absence of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh, what will CSK’s strongest lineup look like this season? Take a look at our planned CSK XI here.
MS Dhoni is back in action after July 10, 2019 when India exited the World Cup semifinals. CSK coach Stephen Fleming feels Dhoni is “mentally committed and determined” to face the challenges of a “tactically different” IPL. This is what he had to say: READ
Along the way, there have been some games more memorable than others. Here’s a quick look at MI-CSK’s top five IPL encounters. – READ
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Here’s a breakdown of the top three runners and carriers for the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings: READ
Mumbai has won a record four IPL titles, while CSK is second with three. Here is a breakdown of the finalists and the results of all the IPL finals: READ
IPL TEMPLATES
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS SQUAD: MS Dhoni (Captain and Guardian), Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Kedar Jadhav, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ambati Rayudu, Lungi Ngid Kui, Sam Curran, Monu , Shane Watson, Sai KishoreNarayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay
MUMBAI INDIANS SQUAD: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock (Wicketkeeper), Kieron Pollard, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Trent Mohs Khan Boult, Prince Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare, James Pattinson
READ |
IPL 2020: Mumbai Indians Team Preview – Ready for Title Defense
OUR IPL XI OF ALL TIMES
1. Chris Gayle (West Indies)
– Has six hundred IPLs, the most by any batter
– His 175 not out is the highest score not only in IPL, but in all of T20 cricket.
– His run total of 4,480 runs is the highest by a starting batter in the IPL
2. David Warner (Australia)
– Fourth-largest racer in the IPL with 4,706 runs, the most by a foreign player
– His 48 scores of 50 or more are the highest of any batsman in IPL cricket
– Has the highest number of scores in the 90s (5) in the IPL
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3. Virat Kohli (India)
– Racing leader in IPL cricket with 5412 runs
– Has the most runs in a single IPL season (973) in 2016 – the only batter with 900 or more runs!
– Has the most hundreds in a single IPL season (4) in 2016
4. Suresh Raina (India)
– Second largest racer in IPL cricket with 5368 runs
– Has added 400 or more runs in nine of the 12 IPL seasons, the most by any batter
– Has accumulated 350 or more races in each of the 12 IPL seasons, the only one to do so
5. MS Dhoni (India) – captain / wicketkeeper
– His batting average of 42.20 is the second highest by a batsman in IPL cricket with more than 600 runs.
– Has played the most games as captain (174) in the IPL
– The only player to win more than 100 games (104) as captain in the IPL
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6. AB de Villiers (South Africa)
– His hitting hitting rate of 151.24 is the highest of any batsman in IPL cricket with more than 3,000 runs.
– You can also save windows
7. Harbhajan Singh (India)
– Has 150 windows in IPL cricket – the most for a spinner
– Has an economy rate of 7.05 runs above, which is third best among bowlers with 100 or more wickets
– A useful hitter with a strike rate of 138, with several high-quality cameos.
8. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India)
– Has 133 wickets, making it the 6th largest wicket receiver in IPL cricket
– His 7.24 economy rate is second best for a pacemaker after Lasith Malinga among bowlers with 100 or more IPL wickets
– His bowling rate of 19.64 balls per wicket is second best for an Indian pacemaker with 100 or more IPL wickets
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9. Amit Mishra (India)
– Has 157 IPL windows – the second largest after Malinga and the most per roulette in IPL cricket
– Has obtained three hat-tricks in the IPL, the most by any bowler.
10. Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
– Is the leader in wicket takes in the IPL with 170 wickets
– His bowling average of 19.79 is the lowest among bowlers with 50 or more IPL windows
– His bowling hit rate of 16.63 balls per wicket is the best for a pacemaker with 50 or more IPL wickets
– Its economy rate of 7.14 is the best among bowlers with 100 or more IPL windows.
11. Zaheer Khan (India)
– Has 102 fields in IPL cricket
– The only bowler with the left arm on the side
(IPL XI of Mohandas Menon)
The game will be streamed live on Star’s video-on-demand platform, Disney + Hotstar. You can also follow live updates from the opening game on Sportstar’s live game day blog.
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