IPL 2021 Match Prediction: Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians. 30th Match. Who Will Win?

The Indian Premier League is back with us after a long break due to the pandemic, and the first game back is a cracker as it sees the Mumbai Indians take on the Chennai Super Kings. The Mumbai Indians, captained by Rohit Sharma, are looking to retain their trophy, while the Chennai Super Kings, captained by MS Dhoni, are looking for their fourth IPL title. Here you can find our IPL prediction of who we think will win this first match of the IPL resumption.

Mumbai Indians Team News

The Mumbai Indians enter the IPL resumption stage in fourth place with four wins from seven matches. The reigning champions are known for not starting strongly, so they will be hoping that this is not the case after the four-month break. Each team was given permission to make five changes to their squad, if need be, but no players from the Mumbai Indian squads have pulled out, so they will have exactly the same squad to choose from, which is great for consistency.

If there was one team that will be really happy that the rest of this tournament will take place in the UAE then it is the Mumbai Indians as the slow UAE surfaces suit the style that they play. Their strategy whenever they play is pretty clear – they have the players that allow them to keep attacking throughout the innings, and this is what they do. With the likes of Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav, they have a batting lineup that most would be jealous of.

To top it off, they have a bowling unit that can win them games thanks to the likes of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah. They also have Pandya, who is a pretty handy bowler to be able to call upon. It is safe to say that no batsman will have an easy time of it when they come up against the Mumbai Indians bowling attack. If the team can get off to a flier and not start slowly like they usually do, then they will have a good chance of going on to defend their title.

Chennai Super Kings Team News

The Chennai Super Kings currently sit in second place in the table with 10 points from seven games, and were it not for some brilliance from Keiron Pollard in their last match against the Mumbai Indians, they would be sitting in first place. After that defeat just before the postponement, the Chennai Super Kings will be out for a bit of revenge. Like the Mumbai Indians, they have also not been forced to make any changes to their squad.

During the 2020 IPL, they were really conservative, and this strategy saw them have their worst ever IPL campaign. In fact, it was the first time that they did not make it to the play-offs stage of the tournament. They decided to shed the conservative strategy this year and this has worked wonders for them. They have also been successful due to the fact that they basically bat all the way down to eleven,

The presence of great all-rounders such as Ravi Jadeja, Moeen Ali, and Suresh Raina gives Dhoni a lot of options when it comes to bowling. During the first half of the 2021 IPL, their fast bowlers were under a bit of scrutiny, but the form that they have been in coming into the resumption is something that should cheer Dhoni up. The likes of Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur, and Dwayne Bravo have all performed well as of late.

It seems that the Chennai Super Kings are following England's approach to T20 and ODI cricket, and it seems to be working for them as well as it is working for England, but we all know that things can change in the blink of an eye in cricket.

Toss Prediction

The match will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, and over the years there have been 61 T20 matches played at this venue. From these matches, the team that has batted first has won 34 times, while the team batting second has won on 26 occasions. The average first innings score stands at 144, while the average second innings score is lower at 122 runs. Thus, considering these stats, we feel that the team that goes on to win the toss will decide to bat first.

Pitch Conditions

Since this is the UAE, we expect a wicket that will take spin from the start of the match. However, as you can see from the stats above, it is a pitch that seems to get harder to bat on as the match progresses. If the team batting first can score around 150-160 runs, they will feel that they are well in the game.

Our Match Prediction

We really could not have asked for a betting match to resume the 2021 IPL. The last time these two teams met they put on a scintillating display, and we are expecting pretty much the same thing this time around too. The Chennai Super Kings were extremely consistent in the first half of the 2021 IPL season, and we do not see them putting in a poor display here. The Mumbai Indians have a really balanced side, but many of their players have not played T20 cricket recently, and we think that this might work against them. Therefore, our money will be on the Chennai Super Kings to get a victory that will cement their spot in the top four.

Our match prediction: