One of the positives for MI in their tough gig at Chennai was the return to form of their skipper Rohit Sharma. Having endured four poor seasons on the bounce he has had his best start to an IPL season and was the only MI batsman who got adjusted to the pace of the wickets at Chepauk. He hit 201 runs in five innings in Chennai at an average of 40.20 and a healthy strike rate of 130.52.
Last season, Mumbai's attack was led by pacers and spinners largely played a supporting cast. In fact, they were the only side to have the ratio of wickets taken by pace to spin higher than three (3.3 pace wickets for every wicket by a spinner). With pacers struggling upfront, it was Rahul Chahar's strikes in the middle phase that often kept the game in check for MI. He was the leading wicket taker in middle overs (7-15) in the India leg across all teams with 11 scalps at a strike rate of 14.2.
What has not worked: Powerplay bowling and middle order.Two aspects that were at the forefront of their success last season was wickets upfront in the Powerplay which often took the wind out of the sail for the opponents and the late innings acceleration by their middle order. The conditions at Chepauk, where they played their first five matches, imperiled both those as a result of which they had a win-loss record in arrears there before moving to Delhi and winning both their games. MI seamers have picked only two wickets in Powerplay across 33 overs (SR 99.0) in seven matches in comparison to 28 in 16 games last year (SR 16.9).
MI have fared disastrously in death overs losing 26 wickets and scoring at just 8.81 per over - both the worst for a team in the season. Kieron Pollard redeemed his numbers somewhat with the knock of the tournament so far in their last game before the break against CSK, but outside of that game the trio of Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan have only managed 190 runs in 16 innings among them at just over run a ball.
The 14th edition of IPL is all set to resume in UAE. First Match will be held between, Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, 7:30 pm IST.