CSK look forward to using home advantage against MI in Qualifier 1

After the grueling league phase of the ongoing IPL the stage is set for the playoffs with CSK and MI clashing against each other for a place in May 12 final There is hardly anything to differentiate between the two sides as both CSK and MI have won the title three times earlierThe Mahendra Singh Dhoniled CSK has been patchy after a strong start and finished its league engagements with a sixwicket defeat to Kings XI Punjab at Mohali on Sunday But CSK will be happy to return to their den to take on tabletoppers MI probably its biggest IPL rival to decide which team seals a spot in the May 12 finalCSK boasts of a tremendous record at home this season winning six of its seven games at the M A Chidambaram Stadium here and come Tuesday it will act as a big advantage for the hosts A defeat however will provide both the teams a second chance in Qualifier 2 on May 10The CSK toporder has fired in fits and starts in the league phase and will need to come out all guns blazing against a formidable MI bowling attack that includes Jasprit Bumrah 17 wickets Lasith Malinga 15 wickets the Pandya brothers Hardik 14 wickets and Krunal 10 wickets leggie Rahul Chahar 10 wickets and possibly Mitchell McClenaghanSkipper Dhoni CSKs highest rungetter with 368 runs from 12 matches 3 fifties has been the mainstay of a rather inconsistent CSK batting unit and along with openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina hold the key in Saturdays game as the usually fluent Ambati Rayudu has struggled to get going CSK however will miss the services of the Kedar Jadhav who sustained a freak shoulder injury in the match against Kings XIBut Jadhav wasnt in the best of form and his absence would open up a spot for either Murali Vijay or Dhruv ShoreyBowling has been CSKs strong point so far this season and becomes even more potent on M A Chidambaram stadiums sluggish wicketImran Tahir 21 scalps the second highest wickettaker this season after Kagiso Rabada 25 has been at the forefront of an effective CSK spin trio also including veteran Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja both with 13 wickets eachAnd the success of Tahir amp Co against the powerful MI batting lineup could very well determine the course of the match MI captain Rohit Sharma 386 runs the impressive Quinton De Kock 492 third leading runscorer Hardik Pandya 380 and Kieron Pollard will be hard to stop once they get going and CSKs bowlers have a tough task at handThe onus would also be on the everimproving Deepak Chahar who has taken 16 scalps so far to pick up early wickets for CSK and stifle the rival batting lineup Going by the headtohead record this year MI holds the upper hand having won both its encounters against CSK in the preliminary phaseMI head coach Mahela Jayawardene would be aware of the job at hand and wont take CSK lightly despite the Lions recent wobbly form CSK will certainly receive a boost by playing the Qualifier 1 at home with the crowd fully backing the team in what promises to be a cracker of a contestTeams fromMumbai Indians Rohit Sharma C Quinton de Kock Suryakumar Yadav Yuvraj Singh Kieron Pollard Hardik Pandya Krunal Pandya Mitchell McClenaghan Mayank Markande Rahul Chahar Jasprit Bumrah Anmolpreet Singh Siddhesh Lad Ankul Roy Evin Lewis Pankaj Jaiswal Ben Cutting Ishan Kishan Aditya Tare Rasikh Salam Barinder Sran Jayant Yadav Beuran Hendricks and Lasith MalingaChennai Super Kings Mahendra Singh Dhoni C Suresh Raina Ambati Rayudu Shane Watson Faf du Plessis Murali Vijay Ravindra Jadeja Dhruv Shorey Chaitanya Bishnoi Rituraj Gaikwad Dwayne Bravo Karn Sharma Imran Tahir Harbhajan Singh Mitchell Santner Shardul Thakur Mohit Sharma K M Asif Deepak Chahar N Jagadeesan Scott KuggeleijnMatch starts at 730 pmCatch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates