Mumbai Indians host Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday, with Rohit Sharma’s men aiming to pick up some much-needed momentum.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led CSK are at the top of the points table at the moment, having won all their three matches so far. Chennai are the only undefeated team in the tournament so far.

Mumbai, on the other hand, are languishing in sixth position with just one victory in three attempts.

Both Mumbai and Chennai are the most successful franchises in the tournament’s history, having claimed the title three times each. If some of their past encounters are anything to go by, Wednesday’s clash at the Wankhede Stadium promises to be a cracker.

Chennai will start favourites against the slightly off-colour Mumbai. Recent history in head-to-head clashes, though, is in MI’s favour, as they have beaten their arch rivals in four out of the last five contests. Overall, too, Mumbai holds a 14-12 advantage over Chennai, including one victory in the defunct Champions T20 League.

However, CSK seem to hold the edge this time around, especially with Dhoni rolling back the years with a typically robust 75 off 46 balls that lifted his team from 27/3 to 175/5 against Rajasthan Royals at home in their previous match.

The Super Kings have the edge in batting depth and in spin bowling variety, while Mumbai have the better pace attack on a pitch that is bound to offer bounce and carry.

Mumbai’s struggles have been with their batting lineup as they seem to be over-dependent on openers Rohit and South African Quinton de Kock. The rest need to step up as the middle order have accounted for a total of 178 run in nine knocks (by batsmen who have batted at 3, 4 or 5 this season) in the three matches so far. Hardik Pandya has been the saving grace on more than occasion, batting lower down the order.

MI would also want captain Rohit to convert his starts into a big score as his team’s fortunes often depend on how well he spares. He averages 45.53 in MI’s wins in the IPL and 19.69 in their losses. Those numbers illustrate the kind of impact he has on the team’s fortunes, and have been reflected in the three matches so far in this season as well.

The hosts will have the option of fielding new recruit, West Indian fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, or all rounder Ben Cutting in place of Lasith Malinga. They will also be bolstered by the arrival of Australian left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff, who joined the team on Monday.

In the spin department, Mumbai don’t have a combination as potent as their opponents, who have Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and South African Imran Tahir to bank on. MI will once again depend on Krunal Pandya and Mayank Markande to handle the spin department, while hoping his pacers step up against a versatile batting lineup.

The last time these two teams met at the Wankhede Stadium, they produced one of the all-time classic games in the IPL, with Dwayne Bravo and Kedar Jadhav helping CSK clinch victory from the jaws of defeat. Expectations will be sky high once again as these storied teams reignite arguably the best rivalry in IPL history.

Head to head in IPL:

Overall: Matches – 24, Mumbai Indians – 13, Chennai Super Kings – 11.

Squads

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Rahul Chahar, Ben Cutting, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Siddhesh Lad, Evin Lewis, Mayank Markande, Mitchell McClenaghan, Alzarri Joseph, Jason Behrendorff, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Salam, Anmolpreet Singh, Barinder Sran, Aditya Tare, Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Quinton de Kock.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, K M Asif, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan (wk), Scott Kuggeleign.

[Inputs from PTI and iplt20.com]