Former Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni, and former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma missed out the CSK vs MI El-Clasico on Saturday, May 2. The sides came up against each other in the rematch of their April 23 game, where the Super Kings recorded a lopsided 103-run win over their counterparts. Ahead of their Saturday’s game, there were speculations that both the Indian cricket team stalwarts would return to action and end their fans’ wait. However, during the toss, it was revealed that both Sharma and Dhoni would be out of action.

Notably, the MI batter has been out of action since the MI’s 18-run loss to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Sharma suffered a hamstring injury during the game, and was forced to miss the next couple of games. While reports suggested that he has attained full fitness, and was also seen practicing in the nets, there has been no clarity about his return.

On the other hand, Dhoni is yet to play his first game of the season. The 44-year-old was ruled out for the first two weeks of the season due to a calf injury. While Dhoni was expected to return in the games later on, fans still haven’t received any sort of clarity from him or the management. Not only this, but Dhoni is also refraining from visiting stadium during game nights, further adding to speculations as to if he would play any more game in the season or not.

However, fans had finally thought that their wait was soon getting over as Suresh Raina told Jatin Sapru that Dhoni would be in action on May 2. However, fans and followers had to face disappointment as CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad didn’t give any update on the legendary wicketkeeper-batter. It is to be noted that their last encounter became the first CSK-MI clash in the history of the tournament where neither Dhoni nor Sharma played.

Hardik Pandya wins the toss, decides to bat first

MI skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bat first against Ruturaj Gaikwad-led CSK at Chepauk in Chennai. Speaking on the fact that the Indians are required to win every game now, Pandya told presenter and former Indian coach Ravi Shastri, “I think for the last eight games, it has been that. Now even more. We have to just come out and kind of play our best cricket and see what happens.”

He also talked about the mood of the dressing room and said, “It's always great. We are professionals. We are supposed to play good cricket. We are supposed to turn up every time. So yeah, the mood has been good. It's been challenging, but we have a lot to play for, as you said, six games, make sure that we give the best opportunity for ourselves to qualify. And at the same point of time, it's about playing for pride as well. You play the sport to enjoy, you play the sport to win. So yeah, these are the all things which we have kind of spoken about and kind of focusing on.”

Playing XI for MI and CSK on Saturday:

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary  

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Robin Minz, Trent Boult, Krish Bhagat, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar