The most anticipated clash of the Indian Premier League (IPL) set up, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) versus Mumbai Indians (MI) blockbuster clash is set to greet the cricket fans as the heavyweights will be locking horns with each other on April 8 (Saturday).
Meanwhile, CSK's all-rounder Moeen Ali compared the CSK-MI rivalry with the hyped up footballing rivalry of Liverpool and Manchester.
While Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians have clinched five IPL title, MS Dhoni's brigade have emerged champions four times. Despite their high portfolios both the teams had a lacklustre show in the previous edition of the glitzy league as they ended the year being bottom two sides of the tournament.
"This is a game I really look forward to. These are the two most successful franchises and the fan-following is huge and this is one of the biggest games you can play as a cricketer outside of international cricket. In football’s point of view it is like Manchester United playing Liverpool. These are huge games,” Moeen told the media here during CSK’s training session on Friday evening at the Wankhede Stadium.
Moeen backed CSK’s strike bowler Deepak Chahar, who struggled in the opening two matches against Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, saying he needs more game time.
“I think the only thing he is lacking is game time. He had a bad injury and is coming back after a long time. Unless you can bowl in a proper game which you need as a bowler, he will get better as the tournament goes on. He is a big bowler for us and when he gets it right he gets three or four wickets in the powerplay,” Moeen said.
Both the teams were off to a losing start in the IPL 2023 but CSK won their second match against Lucknow Super Giants to get back to winning ways.
Chennai Super Kings' full squad for IPL 2023:
MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Singh, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma, Sisanda Magala.
Mumbai Indians' full squad for IPL 2023;
Rohit Sharma, Sandeep Warrier, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Jofra Archer, Tim David, Mohd Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Tristan Stubbs, Kumar Kartikeya, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal, Cameron Green, Riley Meredith, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Vishnu Vinod, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Raghav Goyal.
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