The much-anticipated, 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets underway on Saturday- and fans couldn’t have asked for a better start. In what will be a virtual rematch of last season’s finals, defending champs Mumbai Indians will take on arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium. As much as fans will be buoyed by the return of Indian players on-field and watching them in live-action; fantasy xi players will equally relish the chance to win and score big through their cricket predictions. Fantasy Players are searching for MI vs CSK dream team for 2020 IPL. And so to help them with their endeavours, here’s our match-preview for the 2020 IPL season-opener.

Venue

Sheikh Zayed International Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Date

19 September 2020

Time

7:30 PM IST (2:00 PM GMT/ 6:00 PM Local)

Indian broadcasters

Star Sports network (Television), Disney + Hotstar (Online)

Ground Report

Like most other pitches in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, with the dry surfaces it has to offer should greatly assist spin bowling. Recent temperatures in the area have been moderately high, so expect the pitch to develop more cracks. Fast bowlers, particularly those relying on bouncers as their primary skillset should relish such conditions. Additionally, the relatively low humidity in the air should come in handy for bowlers who rely on turn and swing. Batsmen, too, will want to cash in on the surface’s relative benignity before it starts deteriorating.

Weather Report

Expect a hot and sunny day, with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celcius. Chances of precipitation are almost null, with just a slight touch of humidity (39%). Wind is expected to be moderate, at around 21kmph.

Team News

As of now, the only players unavailable from both sides are the ones who decided to entirely skip the tournament. While Mumbai roped in Australian speedster James Pattinson as a last-ditch replacement for Lasith Malinga; CSK haven’t yet announced, or even considered alternatives to Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina. No injury concerns- if any- are presently known.

MI has the upper hand in front of CSK who is going to missing big players. Mumbai Indians may dominate in the Chennai boys in the season opener. Our dream team of MI vs CSK for the 2020 first match has been selected keeping probable winner in mind.

Match Statistics

Total IPL matches played at the venue: 7

Games won batting first: 4 (57.14 win-percentage)

Games won bowling first: 3 (42.86 win-percentage)

Probable 11

The ongoing ODI series between England and Australia concludes on Wednesday, but players returning from that series will also have to observe a minimum, 6-days of quarantining, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris Lynn, James Pattinson, and Nathan Coulter-Nile- MI’s only Australian imports- have already joined the side and should be available for selection. CSK, meanwhile, will most-likely miss Sam Curran and Josh Hazelwood for their first match.

Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, winners of the recently concluded CPL, should both be first-choice picks for their respective teams. CSK does have more options in their spin-department and should deploy at least 3 of them in their starting line-up. MI- although lacking full-time spinners- do have some wily all-rounders in their ranks, who should serve them good. All periphery aspects aside, though, all eyes will be on former India captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni; who’ll be making his first public appearance on the cricket field since the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.

Mumbai Indians predicted Playing-XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

Chennai Super Kings predicted Playing-XI: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Amabati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c/wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir