High on confidence after their fourth consecutive victory, Mumbai Indians will look to extend their winning run and sneak into the top-four when they lock horns with table-toppers Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League match at the Chepauk on Friday.
The five-wicket victory over inconsistent Delhi Daredevils in their previous match has given the resurgent Mumbai a shot in the arm to take on the formidable Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
After starting the season with four consecutive defeats, Mumbai Indians have bounced back admirably, to be currently placed at fifth position with 10 points from 10 games, just a point behind Royal Challengers Bangalore (11) and Kolkata Knight Riders (11).
A win on Friday would not just put them in top-four but would also give the Munbai outfit a realistic chance of making the play-offs.
But it is certainly not going to be an easy task against the most consistent IPL team across all seasons. The Mumbai Indians seem to be peaking just at the right time with the likes of Lendl Simmons, Parthiv Patel, skipper Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard starting to fire in unison after the loss of a few key players due to injury in the initial stage of the tournament.
The bowling department, spearheaded by Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga, has done pretty well so far.
If Malinga, R Vinay Kumar and Harbhajan Singh can live up to their reputation, they might give the Super Kings serious competition.
Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings, who are leading the table with seven wins from 10 matches, would be looking to continue their good work.
Led by the experienced Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the two-time champions have stuck to their job perfectly in the batting department.
Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo, besides the skipper himself, have hardly done anything wrong. McCullum, especially, is the man the opposition would want to dismiss quickly.
Similarly, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi in bowling have been giving nightmares to their opponents with their brilliance.
It is the combined strength of the side that has seen most of the teams gasping for breath, and come tomorrow Mumbai would have to come out all guns blazing if they want to gain an upper hand.
