Record champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will lock horns against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in an eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.
The Men in Blue got a massive helping hand from Gujarat Titans (GT) as they beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the final game of the league stage, which fired MI to the playoffs.
However, Rohit Sharma & Co. also did their job with immense perfection as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets after chasing down 201 in just 18 overs.
Meanwhile, LSG finished in the third spot with 15 points despite their regular captain KL Rahul being sidelined midway through their campaign. They hold a 3-0 record against Mumbai and even in the league stage of this campaign, they won the match by five runs.
Their overseas batsmen in Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Kyle Mayers and Quinton de Kock are scoring the bulk of the runs and will once again be the key in the playoffs.
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LSG vs MI: Pitch report
The match is set to take place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Built in 1916, it is one of the oldest grounds in India that is still in operation. It is more commonly known as Chepauk, the location where the stadium is situated.
The temperature is forecasted to be in the high 30s today. Early on, the venue's conditions were favourable for batsmen, but as the competition has gone on, the wickets have become slower.
The average first innings total decreased from 182 in the first four games to 150 in the last three. Even in the first qualifier between CSK and GT, the latter struggled to chase down 172 as stroke playing became considerably difficult in the second innings.
Even MS Dhoni was surprised to see the wicket behave that way and claimed that it was a good toss to lose as he would have batted second if he had won it.
Matthew Hayden on air: "It's a different pitch than yesterday, the boundaries are contrasting. The off-side boundary is 61 metres, while the leg-side boundary is 70 metres and 77 metres down the ground. The surface used for this game is similar to the one used in the last night's match. The wicket looks abrasive, lots of in it for the spinners. There will be a bit of swing with the new ball, but apart from that it's going to be spin to win. Batting first is a good option on this wicket."
LSG vs MI live toss
Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first.
LSG vs MI team news
LSG: "We have covered all bases, just need to execute our skills," Krunal Pandya revealed.
MI: "Kartikeya is out, Shokeen is in," Rohit Sharma stated.
LSG vs MI confirmed lineups
LSG: Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Prerak Mankad, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Krunal Pandya (C), Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Mohsin Khan
MI: Rohit Sharma (C), Ishan Kishan (WK), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Chris Jordan, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal
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LSG vs MI: Who are likely to be the impact players?
LSG: Kyle Mayers, Daniel Sams, Yudhvir Singh, Swapnil Singh, Amit Mishra
LSG substituted Yash Thakur with Kyle Mayers.
MI Subs: Ramandeep Singh, Vishnu Vinod. Tristan Stubbs, Nehal Wadhera, Sandeep Warrier
MI substituted Suryakumar Yadav with Nehal Wadhera while batting.
