Plenty of questions for Mumbai Indians against CSK's old pros
Yuvraj Singh has the worst middle-overs dot-ball percentage of any batsman in IPL 2019. Will Mumbai replace him with Ishan Kishan?
Big picture
In the news
Likely XIs
Strategy punt
- Evin Lewis' services in the Powerplay may be alluring, but Mumbai will stick to Quinton de Kock who has put up two consecutive 50-plus stands with Rohit Sharma. This shouldn't stop them from playing Ishan Kishan as a pure batsman in place of Yuvraj Singh, who has been striking at a significantly lower rate than every partner he's batted with so far. At 40.7%, no one in the IPL currently has a worse dot-ball percentage in the middle-overs than Yuvraj.
- Rajasthan Royals had only one left-hand batsman when they played against Super Kings on Sunday; this is likely why Mitchell Santner was brought into the XI in place of Harbhajan. Against Mumbai Indians and their various left-handers, Super Kings are likely to go straight back to the offspinner and to playing with only three overseas players.
- However, if they're worried about their batting, particularly the runs they're getting at the top of the order, Super Kings might be tempted to bring in either Sam Billings of Faf du Plessis to replace Ambati Rayudu, given they have Kedar Jadhav and Suresh Raina as bowling options.
- Mitchell McClenaghan has been a trusted wicket-taking option for Mumbai for many seasons, but if Jason Behrendorff is sans jetlag, he should be slotted straight in. Behrendorff's economy rate in T20 Powerplays is 6.2 and he averages 18.6, which is among the best ever.
Stats that matter
- Mumbai Indians have failed to beat Super Kings in a season only once before - in 2014. Overall, they lead the head-to-head 13-11 and have won four of the last five fixtures between these teams.
- Suresh Raina strikes at more than 140 against any of Mumbai's likely bowling options on the night, with the exception of Malinga against whom he strikes at 127.8. Only Bumrah from Mumbai's entire roster has dismissed him more than once in T20s - twice in seven innings.
- An underrated feature of Super Kings' success so far is that in three consecutive matches, Deepak Chahar has bowled out his four overs up front. In none of those matches has he conceded more than five an over. Thirty-nine of his 72 balls this season have been dot balls, and he's currently conceding 4.66 per over.
Varun Shetty is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo