IPL 2020: CSK vs MI Game Plan 2 – Is it Imran Tahir Time?

CSK vs MI – The forty-first match of the IPL 2020 tournament between the blockbuster teams, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, could all be about match-ups and we could see a return for Imran Tahir. We take a look at a key game plan that could play a role in the forty-first game of IPL 2020 – CSK vs MI.

CSK vs MI Game Plan – Will CSK finally bring in Imran Tahir?

Of the 56 bowlers to have 20 wickets in the middle overs in IPL history, only two bowlers have a better strike-rate than Imran Tahir. The wrist-spinner, infamous for his celebration-laps, was instrumental in CSK’s run to the final in 2019, when he picked up 26 wickets and was awarded the Purple Cap. Hence it is very surprising that CSK haven’t given him a game despite playing 10 matches already.

Several batsmen in the MI lineup have troubles against leg-spin. Since 2018, barring Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya (predominantly finishers), no one has an average of more than 30 against the bowling type. However, these players have a contrasting record against right-arm wrist-spin compared to their head-to-head records against Imran Tahir.

As the above table shows, most batsmen in the MI lineup have pretty good head-to-heads against Tahir, except Ishan Kishan (29 runs, 5 dismissals) and Hardik Pandya (16 runs in 20 balls, 1 dismissal). Quinton de Kock has only faced 5 balls of him in the IPL, but as his country-mate, de Kock would know quite a lot about Tahir’s variations.

However, as mentioned earlier, their recent record against wrist-spin in general shows that a majority of these batsmen have flaws against the type of bowling. Both the openers score slowly, which is why MS Dhoni in the earlier fixture had given Piyush Chawla the ball in the Powerplay and was rewarded with the wicket of Rohit Sharma.

Taking into account the wrist-spin weakness MI batsmen show as well as how frequently Tahir strikes in the middle over phase, there is enough reason for him to open his account in the IPL 2020 season today. However CSK have two Indian leg-spin options in Chawla and Karn Sharma, and given MS Dhoni had spoken about youngsters in the post-match conference of the previous match, it remains to be seen if they decide to give the South-African international a go.

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