Mumbai Indians will take on Chennai Super Kings in the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 at Wankhede Stadium on April 7.
Rohit Sharma-led side have won the competition record number of (three) times and will be looking to extend it further in the 11th edition of the IPL. In the last edition, they defeated Rising Pune Supergiant by a run to win the title.
The Supergiant and Gujarat Lions were included in the last two seasons due to the absence of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. The latter two were banned due to their involvement in corruption, but have returned to the IPL this year.
India's World Cup winning captain MS Dhoni will lead the side from the front once again this year. Under his leadership, the Superkings have made it to the finals on five occasions, winning two titles in the process [2010 and 2011].
The return of CSK and the Rajasthan based side meant there was an auction in January, which allowed the entire squad to be reshuffled. Harbhajan Singh, who was the star spinner for Mumbai Indians, is representing Chennai this season.
Shane Watson and Dwayne Bravo will be the key players for Chennai Super Kings, while Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya are expected to play the similar role as the former two for the defending champions.
Possible XI
Mumbai Indians: Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mustafizur Rahman, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar.
Chennai Super Kings: M Vijay, Sam Billings, Suresh Raina, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mark Wood.
How to watch live
Match starts at 8pm IST/3:30pm BST. Live coverage of the event will be available on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports Select 1, Star Sports Select 1 HD. Mobile, laptop and tablet users can watch the match live on Hotstar.
Global broadcasters and Digital partners list:
| UK | Sky Sports | skysports.com, skygo |
| USA | Willow | Hotstar |
| Pakistan | Geo Super | www.geosuper.tv, www.geo.tv |
| Bangladesh | Channel 9 | Channel 9 |
| Canada | Willow | Hotstar |
| Australia | Fox Sports | foxsports.com.au, Foxtel GO |
| Caribbean | Flow TV | Flowtv.com, Flow Sports App |
| Sub Saharan Africa | Supersport | Supersport.com, Supersport App |
| New Zealand | Sky Sports | www.skygo.co.nz, fanpass.co.nz,www.sky.co.nz |
| MENA | BeIN Sport | BeIN connect |
| Afghanistan | Lemar TV |
