| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
Mumbai: As the race to grab the top four spots heats up, fancied outfits Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will clash at the Wankhede stadium on Sunday in what promises to be a riveting contest between the two IPL heavyweights.
The Super Kings, the title holders for the last two years, and last year's Champions League winners Mumbai, have endured mixed fortunes leading up to the return leg and significantly have dusted off their losing run ahead of the match.
The Super Kings would be thirsting for revenge not only for the comprehensive loss suffered in the first leg match which kicked off IPL 5 just over a month ago in their backyard but also to end MI's three-match winning streak against them beginning with the IPL encounter on April 22, 2011 that the hosts won by eight runs.
In between the two IPL encounters that the two contested over the last two seasons came the CLT20 League clash on September 24 in Chennai which also went in favour of Mumbai by a margin of three wickets and overall MI have the edge with a 5-4 record in IPL.
These two teams, with the two-best winning percentage among all teams in IPL would thus square off in battle-hardened fashion with Mumbai eager to stamp their superiority for the second time after their eight-wicket thrashing of the defending champions on April 4.
Both the teams are confronted with a wobbly batting order, their perceived strengths over the last few seasons.
While Mumbai Indians have struggled to put up a decent score on occasions, having been restricted to scores of 92, 101 and 120, the Super Kings have also not really set things on fire with a batting line-up boasting of the likes of Suresh Raina and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Both sides need to get their act together in batting to make it a rip-roaring contest rather than a struggle for runs.
While Mumbai's batting has let it down at times, the bowlers have done their bit for the most part with Lasith Malinga leading from the front - his 17 wickets at an economy rate of just under 5.50 giving proof of his effectiveness.
The giant West Indian fell on his right shoulder while fielding in the away game against the Delhi Daredevils and missed the subsequent two games - against Deccan Chargers at home two days later and against the Warriors in Pune - and is not expected to take the field in Sunday's game too.
The big plus has been the return to his wicket-taking ways of Harbhajan who can throttle the free-scoring Super Kings batsmen.
In batting, the Super Kings have been propped up by their South African import - Francois du Plessis who is leading their run-gatherers' chart with 366 runs from 11 games - but most others have struggled, the biggest flop being opener Murali Vijay.
In bowling too, Chennai have not had a great time in the wicket-taking column as compared to Mumbai. Their leading wicket-taker has been Doug Bollinger (8 wickets), but he had been benched in the last few games.
Teams from
Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan Singh (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Abu Nechim, Amitize Singh, Aiden Blizzard, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, Clint McKay, Herschelle Gibbs, Davy Jacobs (wk), Richard Levi, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Kartik (wk), Dhawal Kulkarni, Kedar Yadav, Lasith Malinga, Sushant Marathe, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Robin Peterson, Sujit Nayak, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jaydev Shah, Rudra Pratap Singh, T Suman, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare, Apporva Wankhede.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Michael Hussey, Francois du Plessis, M Vijay, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, S Anirudha, Abhinav Mukund, Wridiman Saha (wk), Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shadab Jakati, V Yo Mahesh, Nuwan Kulasekara, Scott Styris, Ravichandra Ashwin, George Bailey, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, K Vasudevdas, G Vignesh, Sudeep Tyagi.
Stats and trivia
Seamers have taken 310 wickets thus far in the IPL, out of 464, almost 67%. Spinners, though, have been marginally more economical, going at 7.26 an over as opposed to 7.82
Fifteen matches thus far in the IPL have gone into the last over.
Match facts
Sunday May 6, 2012 (day/night)
Start time 16:00 local (10:30 GMT)
