IPL 2009 Opener: Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings

Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings - 12.30 - Saturday, April 18

The opening game of the IPL 2009 will see Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians, take on IPL 2008 finalists, the Chennai Super Kings, at Newlands in Cape Town.

The Chennai Super Kings, under the leadership of wicketkeeper/batsman MS Dhoni, are entering this year's IPL as one of the bookmaker’s favourite.

Big hitting all-rounders Andrew Flintoff and Albie Morkel will be at the forefront of the Super Kings attack this coming Saturday.

They will try to be tamed by the Mumbai Indian's bowlers, consisting of Zaheer Khan, Lasith ‘Slinga’ Malinga and Harbhajan Singh, who have the knowledge of Shaun Pollock (the Mumbai Indians' mentor) on their side, when taking on the often tricky Newlands pitch.

All eyes will be on Mumbai's Sanath Jayasuria, to see if he can entertain the sold-out Newlands crowd, as he tries follow up his record as IPL’s greatest six hitter (31 sixes in IPL 2008).

Other Mumbai batsmen to watch will be the "Maestro" Sachin Tendulkar, "Million-Dollar Kid" JP Duminy (on his home ground), and West Indian Dwayne Bravo.

They'll try to be unsettled by Chennai's Makhaya Ntini, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Lakshmipathy Balaji.

IPL 2008 Results

Match 1: Chennai Super Kings won by 6 runs

Match 2: Mumbai Indians won by 9 wickets

It will be a terrific opener for the IPL 2009, and one definitely worth a punt on. I see the Mumbai Indians are going to benefit from the knowledge of Shaun Pollock, and fielding coach Jonty Rhodes (two South Africans who will know the conditions best) to just sneak out a very 20-20 orientated Super-Kings team.

IPL 2009 Predicted Result: Mumbai Indians to beat Chennai Super Kings