Eying finale berth, MS Dhoni-led Chennai to take on Mumbai in Qualifier 1

The league stage is over and now the fight to book a finale berth will start as four teams, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, will clash against each other to with the Indian Premier League 2019 title.

The first Qualifier is between defending champions Chennai and table-toppers Mumbai, which is scheduled for May 7.

Chennai team has been patchy after a strong start and finished its league engagements with a six-wicket defeat to Punjab at Mohali on Sunday.

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But Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side will be happy to return to their den to take on Mumbai, probably its biggest IPL rival, to decide which team seals a spot in the May 12 final.

Chennai boasts of a tremendous record at home this season, winning six of its seven games at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

A defeat, however, will provide both the teams a second chance in Qualifier 2 on May 10.

The Chennai top-order has fired in fits and starts in the league phase and will need to come out all guns blazing against a formidable Mumbai bowling attack that includes Jasprit Bumrah (17 wickets), Lasith Malinga (15 wickets), the Pandya brothers (Hardik 14 wickets and Krunal 10 wickets), leggie Rahul Chahar (10 wickets) and possibly Mitchell McClenaghan.

Skipper Dhoni (Chennai's highest run-getter with 368 runs from 12 matches, 3 fifties) has been the mainstay of a rather inconsistent Chennai batting unit and along with openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina holds the key in Saturday's game as the usually fluent Ambati Rayudu has struggled to get going.

Chennai, however, will miss the services of the Kedar Jadhav, who sustained a freak shoulder injury in the match against Punjab.

But Jadhav wasn't in the best of form and his absence would open up a spot for either Murali Vijay or Dhruv Shorey.

Bowling has been Chennai's strong point so far this season and becomes even more potent on Chidambaram's sluggish wicket.

Imran Tahir (21 scalps), the second highest wicket-taker this season after Kagiso Rabada (25), has been at the forefront of an effective Chennai spin trio, also including veteran Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja (both with 13 wickets each).

And the success of Tahir & Co against the powerful Mumbai batting line-up could very well determine the course of the match.

Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma (386 runs), the impressive Quinton De Kock (492, third leading run-scorer), Hardik Pandya (380) and Kieron Pollard will be hard to stop once they get going and Chennai's bowlers have a tough task at hand.

The onus would also be on the ever-improving Deepak Chahar, who has taken 16 scalps so far, to pick up early wickets for Chennai and stifle the rival batting line-up.

Going by the head-to-head record this year, Mumbai holds an upperhand having won both its encounters against Chennai in the preliminary phase.

Mumabi's head coach Mahela Jayawardene would be aware of the job at hand and won't take Chennai lightly despite the Lions' recent wobbly form.

Chennai will certainly receive a boost by playing the Qualifier 1 at home with the crowd fully backing the team in what promises to be a cracker of a contest.

There is hardly anything to differentiate between the two sides as both CSK and MI have won the title three times earlier.