MUMBAI: The Wankhede Stadium is set to witness an electric atmosphere on Saturday night when the IPL’s traditional rivals Mumbai Indians take on Chennai Super Kings.
It’s an iconic rivalry which excites not just the fans of both the teams-a sell-out happens within minutes of the tickets going for online sale and the TRPs are at their highest- but also the players involved in it.
On the eve of the big franchises’ latest bout, former England and CSK all-rounder Moeen Ali likened this rivalry to that of Manchester United vs Liverpool in football.
“This is a game I really look forward to. These are the two most successful franchises and the fan-following is huge and this is one of the biggest games you can play as a cricketer outside of international cricket. In football’s point of view, it is like Manchester United playing Liverpool. These are huge games,” Moeen, who took 4-26 to shape CSK’s 12-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the last game, said.
Talking about how the players, particularly the new recruits in both the teams, will cope with the pressure of a clash of this scale, where every move is under the lens, on Saturday night, MI’s batting coach Kieron Pollard, who himself has featured in several of these big games, said: “Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure, so I feel sorry for them (the new players in MI). But, it’s just another game. Obviously, it’s a big game. We call it ‘El Clásico’ of the IPL, Mumbai vs Chennai, and a lot of expectations are thrust upon this match in terms of who’s going to come out on top. But, it’s about keeping calm, watching that white Kookaburra when you’re batting, and when you’re bowling, just trying to keep it in the right areas, continuing to go about the plans that have been set to dominate the opposition. I look forward to that.”
An interesting sidelight of the much-anticipated match will be Pollard matching his coaching skills with his old West Indian teammate and CSK rival Dwayne Bravo, who’s now the bowling coach of Chennai.
“I look forward to my batters coming up against ‘DJ’ and his bowlers, and hopefully, we can see how that goes, and who can be singing at the end of it – or who will be singing, and who will be crying,” Pollard said.
