Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 19 : Ahead of his side's all-important 'El-Clasico' Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder Mitchell Santner said that the clash will be a massive one for their momentum going forward.
MI, heading into the clash after two successive wins over Delhi Capitals (DC) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), will play their fellow five-time champions, CSK, at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. The Men in Yellow returned to winning ways against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), spiralling down to five successive losses after kickstarting the competition with a win over MI.
Speaking ahead of the match in the pre-match presser, Santner said, "We know this game against CSK is massive for our momentum going forward. We will have a look at the pitch today and see if there is any spin or anything. We know CSK are good at it, even though they have not been playing overly well and have been on the wrong side on a couple of occasions."
He also said that high-scoring games are a trend in the competition and the team is trying its best to do well in the conditions they are playing in.
"Depending on where you go, black soil and red soil change your mindset a little bit. As a unit, we were probably off for a few games, but now we have two in a row now," he added.
On the Wankhede pitch, Santner said that he has had a look at the surface and further added, "I guess there was an option to make it slightly slower [vs Sunrisers Hyderabad] and I thought our bowlers did a great job. Not sure what it is going to play like tomorrow. As a unit, we need to adapt as fast as we can," he added.
"So if it is slow and spinning, we know we got our hands cut out for us. I think we played on some different wickets here in Mumbai. Usually pretty good. So, probably expect another good one," he continued.
"Traditionally, you get a little bounce on red soil. And I guess the other day, it showed that it was slightly slower. Same with the bowling cutters. If it is flat, like the band or ball game, we know how to try and get in and out of overs. The only real way to slow teams down is wickets in the powerplays," he added.
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Shaik Rasheed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Jamie Overton, MS Dhoni(w/c), Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Sam Curran, Deepak Hooda, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Dewald Brevis, Andre Siddarth C, Vansh Bedi, Ayush Mhatre
Mumbai Indians Squad: Ryan Rickelton(w), Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Karn Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, Reece Topley, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Krishnan Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar, Bevon Jacobs, Satyanarayana Raju, Vignesh Puthur.