Mumbai: Time to talk is over…almost. The time to lock horns is here as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 is set for a blockbuster opener as Mumbai Indians (MI) square off against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
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This will be the 25th time that these two sides will face each other in Twenty20s and 23rd time in the IPL, with MI enjoying 13-11 lead (overall) and 6-4 (overall) in India’s financial capital. MI also hold an edge over CSK, with 12-10 win-loss ratio (5-2 at Wankhede), in their 22 IPL battles.

The Men in Yellow or as some like to call them, the Manchester United of IPL – loved, hated, but hardly-ever ignored – are making a return to cricket’s widely watched domestic T20 league following a two-year suspension due to the spot-fixing saga. CSK will like to make their IPL comeback memorable and win the opening game.

Defending champions, Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, will like to brush aside their tendency of being the late bloomers and losing the first few games. Although there are going to be battles within battles – Ravindra Jadeja vs Hardik Pandya and Dwanye Bravo vs Kieron Pollard, the MI vs CSK encounter will be a battle of cores as the teams have retained their core of players via player retentions and at the auction.

While MI core consists of Rohit, Pandya brothers – Hardik and Krunal –, Jasprit Bumrah, Pollard and Mitchell McClenaghan, CSK have Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Bravo and Murali Vijay.

However, the IPL opener will also be an opportunity to see how the other Jharkhand boy and a possible MS Dhoni successor, playing for MI, Ishan Kishan does. He was India’s captain as they missed out winning the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh a few years ago. While Kishan’s then teammate and explosive wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant made it to Team India before him, Pant’s failure to cash in on the limited opportunities, means a chance for Kishan to raise his credentials and be in contention for a spot in limited-overs squad whenever opportunity arises in the future.

Kishan and the explosive West Indian Evin Lewis at the top with Rohit, Hardik, Pollard, JP Duminy, Krunal, Suryakumar Yadav in the middle, means MI have a powerful batting unit.

The Mukesh Ambani-owned side, meanwhile, will see an end of an era and a beginning of a new bowling order under Bumrah’s leadership as Lasith Malinga will no longer play the event as a bowler and turns mentor while Harbhajan Singh dons Yellow over Blue, which he wore over 10 seasons of IPL.

For CSK, while they will have to do a bit of jugglery at the top with the likes of Sam Billings, Faf, Shane Watson, Murali Vijay and Ambati Rayudu providing enough options for the openers’ slots, their middle-order of Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwaye Bravo possesses solid skills to counter MI’s bowling attack.

While CSK managed to retain majority of their core, they could not retain R Ashwin. However, the management has roped in Harbhajan, Karn Sharma and Imran Tahir to bolster team’s spin-bowling attack, which also has Jadeja as two pacers from the likes of Mark Wood, Shardul Thakur and Lungi Ngidi will take the field for CSK in IPL 2018 opener. 

Predicted playing XIs:

Mumbai Indians: Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan, Akila Dananjaya / Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Chahar / Pradeep Sangwan.

Chennai Super Kings: Sam Billings/Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Kedar Jadhav, Dwyane Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Mark Wood / Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur.

Head to head IPL record:
Games played: 22
Mumbai Indians: 12 wins
Chennai Super Kings: 10 wins

Click here for match predication to win in Dream 11 / Halaplay / My Team 11

 The mega two-day Indian Premier 2018 auction is over. Across Saturday and Sunday, the eight franchisees assembled under one roof to rebuild their squad for the upcoming season of the cash-rich IPL.

England allrounder Ben Stokes was the costliest buy while Jaydev Unadkat turned out to be the most expensive India cricketer at the auction.

Here are the squads of the eight teams after the auction:

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS [25 players]

MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo. Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Lungisani Ngidi, Asif K M, N Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi

DELHI DAREDEVILS [25 players]

Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Chris Morris, Glenn Maxwell, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammad Shami, Gautam Gambhir, Trent Boult, Colin Munro, Daniel Christian, Jason Roy, Naman Ojha, Prithvi Shaw, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Avesh Khan, Abhishek Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Harshal Patel, Manjot Kalra, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sayan Ghosh

​KINGS XI PUNJAB [21 players]
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Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Zadran, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, David Miller, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Singh Sran, Yuvraj Singh, Christopher Gayle, Ben Dwarshuis, Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Manzoor Dar, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS [19 players]

Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Vijay Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi

MUMBAI INDIANS [25 players]
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Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Pat Cummins, Evin Lewis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ben Cutting, Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Chahar, Pradeep Sangwan, Jason Behrendorff, Jean-Paul Duminy, Saurabh Tiwary, Tajinder Dhillon, Akila Dhananjaya, Nidheesh M D Dinesan, Aditya Tare, Siddhesh Dinesh Lad, Mayank Markande, Sharad Lumba, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan

RAJASTHAN ROYALS [23 players]

Steve Smith, Benjamin Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jos Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane, Darcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Ben Laughlin, Stuart Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, Anureet Singh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Mahipal Lomror

​ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE [24 players]
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Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Woakes, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Brendon McCullum, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Quinton De Kock, Mohammed Siraj, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin De Grandhomme, M. Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra, Pawan Negi, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Pavan Deshpande, Anirudha Ashok Joshi

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD [25 players]

David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan Arman, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddarth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Kane Williamson, Carlos Brathwaite, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami, Mohammad Nabi, Chris Jordan, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal

​Leading broadband service provider ACT Fibernet has partnered with Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as official connectivity and internet partner.

​ACT Fibernet, with its extensive fiber broadband connectivity in Chennai, aims to ensure seamless internet broadband connectivity for the ardent followers of the CSK team during the IPL matches. The company will be providing wi-fi coverage to the entire Chennai stadium taking the in-stadium experience to a whole new level.

Over 40,000 fans seated in the stadium will be able to enjoy HD quality speeds on wifi, access internet in the stadium, catch up on live videos, watch match replays, and indulge in social media activities. Additionally, a whole range of fan engagement activities and contests have been planned by CSK-ACT Fibernet together to significantly enhance the in-stadium experience. This initiative by ACT Fibernet will bring the fan experience in stadia at par with the best stadiums in the world.

​Speaking on the partnership, ACT Fibernet COO Sandeep Gupta said, “We take immense pride in announcing that we are the chosen connectivity partner of the CSK team. CSK is not just a team but an emotion and passion amongst millions, and through this partnership, we are going to significantly enhance this spirit by enabling the CSK teams and its supporters stay connected.”

Commenting on the partnership, CSK whole time director George John said, “Chennai Super Kings is known for its solid performances and consistency, ACT Fibernet complements all of this and therefore is our chosen partner. Our aim has always been to enhance the experience of our fans and supporters. With this association with ACT Fibernet, we are certain that we will be able to significantly enliven the in-stadium experience. This is the first amongst the many initiatives we have planned for the CSK fans in partnership with ACT Fibernet.”

ACT Fibernet has planned exciting engagement activities and contests both in the stadium and otherwise. Chosen lucky customers will also win a chance to obtain free match tickets, signed memorabilia and interact with their favorite CSK cricketers

It is exciting to have CSK back in the competition and I am sure the fans are very happy to have their team back on the field, said Hussey.

Chennai: Making a comeback to the Indian Premier League after a two-year suspension in the wake of spot-fixing saga, Chennai Super Kings are making sure they retain the “core” of the team. After announcing the retention of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja on Thursday, the two-time IPL champions have brought back Michael Hussey to the core; this time as a batting coach.
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The Chennai-based IPL team, on Saturday, confirmed Hussey’s appointment. The former Australian cricketer, who is known as Mr. Cricket, is the third highest run-getter for CSK with 1768 runs, only behind Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni.  

“I am really excited about returning to the Chennai Super Kings in a coaching capacity and working with the players to help them get the best out of themselves and also help to bring success to this great franchise,” said Hussey in a media release issued by CSK.

“I have so many great memories as a player and have made many wonderful friends in Chennai and now I am excited about giving back to the franchise in trying to help the next generation of CSK players,” added Hussey.
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“It is exciting to have CSK back in the competition and I am sure the fans are very happy to have their team back on the field,” concluded the 42-year-old Hussey, who won the Orange Cap for most runs in IPL 2013.

New Delhi: The 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is just five months away and the major focus is once again on the high-profile auctions. While many players are set to go under the hammer, there’s still a final call to be taken on policies such as players’ retention and right-to-match.

An all-important IPL Governing Council (GC) meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, where important issues will be discussed. With the return of Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after a two-year spot-fixing ban, the BCCI will aim to ensure that all eight franchises are on a level-playing field.

However, it’s not going to be easy for the GC as there is a fierce bickering between teams over the matter. One certain franchise is doing all they can to ensure that RR and CSK are not given the right to retain the players they lost during their suspension period, said a Times of India report.
As the squabble continues, the BCCI will ensure that all teams stay on the same level. As of now, most of the teams are in favour of players' retention policy.

If retention is valed, two-time IPL winners CSK would retain key players such as the likes of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo and few others. This would once again make CSK favourites for the prestigious trophy, and therefore other teams are stern on opposing the retention policy.

Previously in November, a meeting between the team owners and the GC was held to discuss players’ retention, but the two parties couldn’t come to a conclusion. With plenty of confusion buzzing, it is to be seen if there is a new twist in the upcoming auctions.