Former Chennai Super Kings opener Matthew Hayden feels that Mumbai Indians’ resurgence in the final stages of the Indian Premier League would be a worrying factor for the Chennai Super Kings, who have already secured their place in the grand final.
Mumbai Indians have peaked in the right stage of the tournament as they outplayed the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their final must-win game of the league stage followed by the emphatic win over the Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator of the IPL 2023.
Speaking on Star Sports, Cricket-turned-commentator Matthew Hayden hailed Mumbai Indians for their remarkable performance in IPL 2023, as they are on a roll at the moment winning crunch games in the last seven matches, and reckons that oppositions sides would be fearing to play this formidable Mumbai Indians team in the final stages.
“Very special achievement, it’s been a very big difference in the way MI have played in the two halves of the season. In the first 7 games, they won only 3 games and 4 losses. And in the next 7, they won 5. They have really got on a roll here. I would imagine opposition sides will be fearing MI now,” Matthew Hayden said.
Akash Madhwal displayed an outstanding spell of fast bowling picking up his maiden 5-wicket haul in the cash-rich league well supported by Piyush Chawla and Cameron Green in the middle overs to keep up the run-rate high to put pressure on the Lucknow Super Giants batter.
On their batting, Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav played counterattacking knocks despite the loss of two wickets before them losing their wickets to Naveen ul Haq in the same over, as the impact player Nehal Wadhera’s vital cameo, in the end, to help a post-match-winning score of 182-8 at the end of 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians Qualification Is Going To Send Some Real Shivers Through The Spines Of CSK – Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden feels that Mumbai Indians are well on track to win their 6th IPL title in this edition of the Indian Premier League with their players putting up a match-winning performance in the business end of the tournament and recalled the words of CSK bowling coach Dwayne Bravo, who said that they don’t want to face the five-time champions in the final.
“If they haven’t already, and Mumbai Indians are not only in a position in the next game where they can qualify (for the final), that is going to send some real shivers through the spines of CSK. We have already heard that from one of their very greatest DJs Bravo. But also, Gujarat Titans, who would have they wanted to play, I don’t think it would be Mumbai Indians,” Matthew Hayden added.
Mumbai Indians will take on the defending champions Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 in the famous Narendra Modi Stadium on May 26 and the stakes on the game will be high as both the teams will fight for a place in the grand final against Chennai Super Kings.