El-Clasico of IPL is the another name of Chennai super kings and Mumbai Indians rivalry in the IPL. If you ever look at the long history of Indian premier league (IPL) there are hardly any teams who are consistent like Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI). While Chennai Super Kings has been filled up with the match-winners like MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina (former CSK player) who are the vital cogs of this franchise from the inception. Whereas for Mumbai Indians since he has given the captaincy to Rohit Sharma everything has been changed. Although if we look into the two sides the Chennai Super Kings looked more dominating from Mumbai Indians in terms of batting powerhouses they had/have in the form of Mathew Hayden, Brendon McCullum, Albie Morkel, Suresh Raina, Andrew Flintoff and the Captain MS Dhoni.
In the Mumbai Indians before the captaincy of Rohit Sharma they had the pinch-hitters in the form of Sanath Jayasuriya and Luke Rhonchi but they couldn't turn around for them. The T20l format revolves around the pinch-hitters too much the player won't be having much time to get settled in the 20 overs game from the word go. The team with more pinch-hitters in the line-up is having the higher success ratio over the other teams in the tournament like IPL. Not just personal landmarks the tournament like IPL also provides the opportunity to the player to get to play alongside the world-class players and know about how to handle the pressure in the tough situation of a match.
The numbers of the two teams may differ as Mumbai Indians have more trophies as a winner of IPL. But in terms of impact Mumbai Indians is very behind Chennai Super Kings with the kind of players and performances they have been throughout the history of the cash-rich league. The factors like consistent performance, brilliant records in the knockout games, remarkable records while playing outside the home conditions, the most smartest pick in the auction every year and the most enthralling thing about the team like CSK is that they come back into the league and enters the playoffs when at the verge of losing its place in the tournament.
Comparing the batting of both the teams again Chennai Super Kings looked more complete from the top order to middle order and even they have the depth in the all rounder column in the form of Ravinder Jadeja and Mitchell Santner who can bat and bowl as well. The fast bowling options in the CSK line-up include Lungi Ngidi, Doug Bollinger, Dirk Nannes and Makhaya Nitini (the former CSK fast bowlers), Josh Hazelwood. The spin bowling is always the key factor for CSK who have Imran Tahir, R.Ashwin (former CSK player), Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawala, Muthaih Muralitharan (former CSK player) and Mitchell Santner. CSK spin bowling is always rated as the best among other teams in the league.
While for Mumbai Indians (MI) apart from their fast bowling they don't look strong enough in any other factors from Chennai Super Kings. Both the teams have won the champions league trophy twice where Chennai Super Kings were the winners of 2011 and 2013 season where Mumbai Indians were the winners of 2010 and 2014 season. In the IPL Mumbai Indians have lifted the trophy for 5 times while Chennai Super Kings lifted the trophy for 3 times. Numbers again don't define the clear picture of this rivalry but CSK would be the team on the every equation a captain would like to have rather than the team of Mumbai Indians who are not consistent throughout the tournament history.
