It would be nothing short of a blockbuster opening to the much awaited thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) when two of the most successful teams in the league's history - Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), square off against each other in the tournament opener at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi later on Saturday.

The tournament opener will also be a repeat of the last edition's finals where Mumbai Indians had beaten their fierce rivals Chennai Super Kings to lift their fourth IPL title in a pulsating grand finale at Hyderabad.

Amidst the IPL being played behind close doors for the very first time due to the coronavirus pandemic, there would be no shortage of the excitement around this high octane clash as millions of die hard spectators around the world will witness over the years has been billed as the clash of the Titans.

There is a lot at stake for both the heavyweights as both these highly successful franchises bid for yet another title in the IPL after winning the glittering piece of silverware seven times between them in the past twelve editions of the league.

While Mumbai Indians will be led by their seasoned skipper Rohit Sharma, Chennai Super Kings will have their in MS Dhoni don the captaincy's hat yet again. Dhoni makes a return to competitive cricket in the IPL after being out of game for over a year.

Both the teams have suffered major setbacks with star players on either sides pulling out due to personal reasons. CSK suffered two major blows as Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the tournament citing personal reasons, Mumbai Indians will be without the services of their seamer Lasith Malinga.

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Despite Raina and Harbhajan's absence, CSK look to have a well rounded side yet again with the same group of players. MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Kedhar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Watson, Faf Du Plessis, Deepak Chahar would once again find themselves in the playing eleven, CSK have also got Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchel Santner who could play crucial roles in the team's campaign for this season.

While one of either Ambati Rayadu or Kedhar Jadhav is expected to play at No.3 in Suresh Raina's absence, leggie Imran Tahir will have a crucial role to play in the absence of frontline spinner Harbhajan Singh.

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The Indian pace duo of Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar will resume seam duties with the new ball. It will be seen on the match day how the Chennai team management utilizes Lungi Ngidi and Josh Hazlewood.

Four-time champions Mumbai Indians will persist with their opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Quinton De Kock at the top of the order. They have strengthened their by signing in swashbuckling Aussie opener Chris Lynn.

Mumbai Indians middle order will revolve around the likes of Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, hard hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya and his brother Krunal. Sherfane Rutherford and Saurabh Tiwary are the other options for Mumbai.

Despite the absence of Lasith Malinga, Mumbai Indians do have a potent seam attack with Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile and James Pattinson.

Spinners will surely come into play on the low and slow pitches in the UAE and play an integral role in deciding the fortune of the game. CSK seem to have an edge over Mumbai as they have more depth in their spin department with Tahir, Jadeja, Santner, and Piyush. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians have

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), Aditya Tare, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaspreet Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Mohsin Khan, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh, Jayant Yadav, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain/wicket-keeper), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Narayan Jagadeesan (wicket-keeper), KM Asif , Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay, Josh Hazlewood, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Imran Tahir , Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Monu Kumar, Shane Watson, Sai Kishore