What Two formidable sides – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings – will battle for two points when they go head to head in Match 33 of Pepsi IPL 2014. The Mumbai Indians – who had a completely forgettable UAE leg, losing each of their five matches there – have transformed into a very competitive team since touching down on Indian shores. In their first outing in India, they chased down 169 to hand table-toppers Kings XI Punjab their first defeat of the season. In their following and most recent outing against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, MI made the most of playing in home conditions yet again. They posted 187 runs – riding on skipper Rohit Sharma’s 59 and fireworks from Kieron Pollard towards the end – and then restricted their opponents to 168 to register their second win of the season. The Chennai Super Kings were blown away by Kings XI Punjab in their previous match. Initially, their bowlers had no answer to Glenn Maxwell, and after losing a couple of wickets in the run-chase, the team decided to take the safe approach by focussing on maintaining a healthy net run-rate rather than losing wickets and not batting out their 20 overs. CSK are placed in the top half of the table, and MS Dhoni and co. will be aware they have a chance to push for a top-two finish before other teams start catching up. When Saturday, May 10, 2014, 8 pm IST Where Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai The Protagonists It would be safe to say that the form of Rohit Sharma mirrors the fortunes of the Mumbai Indians. Almost every time their captain has scored the runs, MI have gone on to win – just like they did the other day against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kieron Pollard – if he can continue scoring like he has in the last four matches – will be an important cog in MI’s plans. On the bowling front, do not look beyond Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh. Both the experienced pros have bowled exceedingly well, even if the wickets column does not reflect that in the case of the off-spinner. The two men who have done most of the damage for the Chennai Super Kings are their openers – Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith. Barring the last game, the two overseas pros have seen CSK off to a quick start almost every time and at least one of them has batted into the second half of the innings on most occasions. On the bowling front, while the focus has almost always been on the spinners, Mohit Sharma has impressed – picking up wickets every single time. Notes from Previous match Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore: The opening partnership has been a concern for the Mumbai Indians and it remains that way after their seventh match of the season. The positives to emerge from the previous match were the belief within the team and the bowling form of Jasprit Bumrah and Harbhajan Singh. Despite RCB getting off to a solid start, MI believed it was only a matter of time before they could pull the brakes on the run-chase. And that moment of inspiration came from the senior spinner in the team – Harbhajan Singh – who claimed both openers. The inexperienced Bumrah could have been the weak link in the MI bowling attack, but the 20-year-old from Gujarat held his nerves and came through with impressive figures of two for 22 from his four overs. Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab: It is not often that CSK look listless on the field. That it has happened twice this season, against the same opponent too, must be a concern for the team management. The form of the spinners must especially worry the team. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja conceded 75 runs in five overs between them. Previous Meetings No team has a better win-loss record against the Chennai Super Kings than the Mumbai Indians. The two teams have met 16 times previously, and the Mumbai Indians have finished on the right side of the result on nine occasions. When these two teams met in Dubai earlier this season, CSK restricted MI to 141 for seven and chased down the runs in 19 overs, losing only three wickets in the process. Trivia Rohit Sharma has 13 scores of 50-plus for the Mumbai Indians. 10 of these knocks have resulted in wins. CSK skipper MS Dhoni has scored more runs against the Mumbai Indians than any other team. In 14 innings against MI, he has scored 406 runs at a strike-rate of 148.71. Harbhajan Singh has impressive numbers in matches against CSK. In 15 matches, he has picked 15 scalps, and has an economy-rate of 5.96. What Next Mumbai Indians will travel to Hyderabad for their first away fixture of the India leg when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 12. Chennai Super Kings, meanwhile, head to their captain’s hometown – Ranchi – to host the Rajasthan Royals on May 13.