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The Mumbai Indians (MI) are all set to lock horns with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2026 match on Saturday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Ahead of the match, former Team India cricketer Mohammad Kaif feels that the “Paltan” is stronger on paper than the Super Kings. He also said it will be hard to stop the Mumbai Indians if they play a dominant brand of cricket.
“On paper, the Mumbai Indians look stronger than the Chennai Super Kings because they have a lot of match-winners and experienced campaigners on their side. But when you look at recent form, a lot of questions get raised because MI haven`t been winning many games. That said, on their day, if they play a dominant brand of cricket, they can be very hard to stop,” he said on Star Sports.
The former cricketer then said that the Hardik Pandya-led team will enter the clash with the upper hand as Chennai heavily depend on Sanju Samson to win the matches.
“Chennai, on the other hand, have only had Sanju Samson firing so far. They are relying heavily on his performances to win games. That is why Mumbai head into this crucial match with the upper hand,” said Kaif.
Currently, the Super Kings are placed in the seventh position with three wins and five losses. They have a net run rate (NRR) of -0.121 and six points. On the other hand, the “Paltan” is placed in the ninth position with two wins and six defeats. The side has a net run rate (NRR) of -0.784 and four points.
IPL 2026, Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings: Full Squads
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Danish Malewar, Robin Minz (wk), Ryan Rickelton (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Atharva Ankolekar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Mayank Rawat, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tilak Varma, Ashwani Kumar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, AM Ghazanfar, Mayank Markande, Mohammad Izhar, Raghu Sharma.
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), MS Dhoni (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Zak Foulkes, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Gurjapneet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar.
(With ANI Inputs)
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