Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings is the El Classico of IPL: Jaydev Unadkat

Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are set to lock horns on Thursday, April 21 at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai.

Fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat said that Mumbai Indians’ (MI) clash with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is the El Classico of the Indian Premier League (IPL). MI and CSK happen to be the two most successful teams in the T20 championship, having won five and four titles respectively. The two teams are next set to face each other on Thursday, April 21 at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai.

Since the inception of the IPL, Mumbai and Chennai have locked horns 34 times. While MI have won 20 matches, the Super Kings have come up trumps 14 times. Ahead of their upcoming meeting, Unadkat reckoned both teams would throw punches at each other to take the upper hand.

“Everyone knows MI and CSK are the most successful teams. From the outside, it is probably the El Clasico of the #TATAIPL. Both teams are going to come hard and it will be a good contest,” Unadkat was quoted as saying in a media interaction on Wednesday.

Both CSK and MI have strained to perform in the ongoing tournament. As far as MI are concerned, they are languishing at the bottom of the points table with losses in all six of their matches. Unadkat said that the Mumbai bowlers need to get better in the death overs.

“Death bowling has been a concern. It’s always important to be spontaneous in the middle, take your own decisions, which we did not do in a couple of games,” he stated.

Unadkat also mentioned that one shouldn’t count MI out since the team has come back from adverse circumstances in the history of the IPL. “MI has seen it all - we have seen the lows, we have won trophies. To come out of this, you need to be calm in your mind," Unadkat added.

Unadkat also talked about how former Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have been motivating them in their lean patch.