IPL match preview: Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings

The Mumbai Indians have won the IPL five times. The Chennai Super Kings have won the tournament on four occasions. That's nine of the 15 titles between them. This match, indeed, is a battle of the biggest champions.

Mumbai are not off the mark yet this season. They lost heavily to the Royal Challengers Bangalore recently and will want to promptly bounce back. Chennai have won one and lost one. Their most recent result was defeat to the Lucknow Super Giants.

Neither team are playing like perennial champions at the moment, but it's early days in the tournament. Victory for either side here could set a precedent for the rest of the month and going into the play-offs.

Their will be some major international and local names involved in this match. The key for both sides will be to get their balance of four players from abroad and seven players from India right. Teams have been known to field only three overseas players in favour of eight Indians.

Mumbai have the balance of the wins in their last five matches against Chennai. Mumbai have three to CSK's two.  Four of the five contests were won by the team batting second.

Tilak Varma shone with an unbeaten 84 for Mumbai in defeat to RCB. They might want to consider pushing higher in the order than fifth position. Australian all-rounder Cameron Green proved pricey with the ball against Bangalore. He can learn from those lessons and hit back here.

Ruturaj Gaikwad is a massive talent with the bat and will be vital to Chennai's bid to outdo a challenging Mumbai bowling attack. England all-rounder Moeen Ali took a wicket in each of his four overs against the Super Giants and Chennai would enjoy similar from him again.

Chennai have battled with conceding too many extras recently. If they can get on top of that correction, they should get the better of the Mumbai Indians here. CSK have a staunch tactician in Mahendra Singh Dhoni. His approach against opposition captain Rohit Sharma should be intriguing to watch.