Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. (AFP Photo) Key Highlights Statistics count for little going into the title fight with both teams being in the situation before multiple times. Mumbai have won three out of the four finals they have been part of, including the two against CSK in 2013 and 2015. Three-time champions CSK will be playing their eighth IPL final. HYDERABAD: Familiar foes and the two most successful teams of the IPL -- Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings -- clash in a mouth-watering final here on Sunday, following a rather eventful season that produced some unprecedented moments on the field. READ ALSO: Hyderabad pitch in focus as curator promises sporting wicket It can't be disputed that Mumbai go into the final as the favourites, having beaten CSK as many as three times earlier in the tournament including in the Qualifier 1 at Chennai on Tuesday. However, statistics count for little going into the title fight with both teams being in the situation before multiple times. Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai can certainly take confidence out of the fact that they have won three out of the four finals they have been part of, including the two against CSK in 2013 and 2015. For three-time champions CSK, who have entered their eighth final, it has been another remarkable season after last year when they made a triumphant return having serving a two-year suspension. Whatever the outcome may be, the final here will add another memorable chapter to their long-time rivalry. The way the entire season unfolded will also not be forgotten anytime soon by the fans and experts alike. With World Cup beginning right after the IPL, the league had additional significance for tainted Australian stars -- Steve Smith and David Warner -- who made a successful return after serving out one-year bans for their role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Warner especially made a roaring return by amassing 692 runs and formed the most dangerous opening pairing this season alongside Jonny Bairstow. The left-handed opener, who is back in Australia for the World Cup preparation, is set to end as the tournament's highest run-getter. For India's very own, Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, it was also a tournament to remember with both hitting top-gear ahead of the World Cup. Having served a BCCI suspension for their outrageous comments on women during a TV show, Pandya and Rahul got their act together and proved match-winners for their respective teams. Pandya is not done yet and expect him to deliver a match-winning performance for Mumbai in the final. He and KKR's Andre Russell elevated power hitting to another level with their sensational strokeplay. Besides producing plenty of on-field moments to savour, IPL 2019 had its fair share of controversies. Amongst the ones that stood out involved KXIP skipper Ravichandran Ashwin and talismanic CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni . Early into the competition, Ashwin triggered a massive 'spirit of cricket' debate in the entire cricketing fraternity by 'Mankading' Jos Buttler who was backing up at the non-striker's end. There were some who backed Ashwin's act, while some were against it. The controversial incident even attracted the attention of MCC, the custodian of game's laws. Two weeks later, none other than Dhoni's conduct was questioned after he stormed onto the pitch from the dugout to dispute a no-ball call. It was a rare sight of Dhoni losing his cool. Umpires were at the receiving end again after making some poor calls, raising serious questions over the standard of Indian umpires. The issue of over-rate too will have to be taken into account while planning for the next season with some of the league games stretching beyond midnight. Bringing the focus back to the final on Sunday, CSK will have to redraw their plans against Mumbai, who have beaten them convincingly three times this season. Rohit and Co. have dealt with CSK's spin threat smartly while other teams' batsmen struggled against the experience trio of Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja. CSK pacer Deepak Chahar too has been impressive with 19 wickets so far. Going into the Qualifier 2, the lack of runs from Shane Watson's bat was a concern but he regained his touch with a 32-ball 50 against Delhi Capitals. Mumbai, on the other hand, will be well rested following a four-day break and backing themselves for a fourth win over Dhoni's side this season and fourth IPL title. Teams (from): Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, K M Asif, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan, Scott Kuggeleijn. Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Ankul Roy, Evin Lewis, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ben Cutting, Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Jayant Yadav, Beuran Hendricks and Lasith Malinga.<doc-sep>Chennai Super Kings are yet again in the final of an IPL tournament. This is the 8th time they have reached the final out of 10 appearances. It is as if the IPL is one contest where CSK is always one of the finalists by default and the race is amongst the other 7 teams to reach the finals. This time around, CSK are up against the best all-around team of the tournament, Mumbai Indians. Both these teams have met thrice in the final and Mumbai have had the upper hand with 2 wins. Both the teams have won the coveted trophy thrice and whoever wins this time will become the most successful team in the tournament history. Hence there is a lot at stake in the final on Sunday. Going into the finals, the Chennai franchise would love to make one change in their playing XI. Shardul Thakur, who came into the team in the last match, bowled only one over in Qualifier 2 against Delhi Capitals and conceded 13 runs. Shardul Thakur in the middle (Image courtesy: IPLT20/BCCI) Thakur went wicketless in his previous 2 matches against SRH and RCB. He has been the most expensive bowler for CSK this year with an economy of 9.38. The one option for CSK would be to bring back Murali Vijay in place of Thakur to strengthen their batting. In the final, there is the possibility that Mumbai Indians might opt to bat first while CSK might look to chase. In such a scenario, an additional batsman in the form of Murali Vijay should help CSK’s cause if are to chase. But the hitch with such selection is now that both Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis have shown form against Delhi, Vijay could be slotted only in the middle order which is not his natural batting position. Hence this move could backfire for CSK. Karn Sharma for Shardul Thakur Karn Sharma - The lucky charm of IPL now with CSK (Image courtesy: IPLT20/BCCI) The wicket at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad is expected to be slow, making it more suited to spinners than fast bowlers. Karn Sharma would be a better option for CSK to exploit such favourable spinner friendly conditions. He could be the sixth bowling option for CSK against the mighty Mumbai batting lineup. Karn is a decent bat too. Being a left-hand batsman, he could be used as a floater in the batting line-up to upset the rhythm of the left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya and wrist-spinner Rahul Chahar. Besides, Karn Sharma had been the lucky charm of IPL as he has ended up on the winning side in the last 3 IPL finals that he has been a part of. Though Dhoni normally wouldn’t believe in upsetting a winning combination, this specific change is more necessitated by the conditions. On current form and head-to-head records, MI hold the upper hand over CSK. However, CSK are, by no means, a pushover. For CSK, players like Dhoni and Raina have the experience of playing in more finals than anyone else in IPL history. That should stand them in good stead in yet another final appearance for them. Follow Sportskeeda for all the updates on IPL score, purple cap, points table, schedule, news, orange cap and fantasy tips.<doc-sep>There is a confident and settled look to the three-time champion outfit Mumbai Indians players, who had a full-length training session at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Friday, will bank on the ‘feel good’ factor from the last time they played in an IPL final here in 2017 when they defeated Steve Smith-led Rising Pune Supergiant (which also had M.S. Dhoni) by a thrilling, one-run margin. For the captain Rohit Sharma, it will be a familiar turf having played for Deccan Chargers earlier in the IPL. Imposing record With MI having an imposing record of three wins in 2013, 2015 and 2017 in the four finals it has played (losing to CSK in the 2010 edition), the fans may not be faulted in hoping the big names — star player Rohit at the top and Kieron Pollard in the lower-half of the batting line-up — fire in the summit clash. By their own standards, both Rohit (390 runs from 14 games) and Pollard (240 from 15 games) are clearly due for game-changing innings this season. It was the South African opener Quinton de Kock who has been the lead scorer with 500 runs from 15 matches including four half-centuries and Surya Kumar Yadav (409 runs from 15 games) playing a perfect second fiddle. The fact that even Yuvraj Singh played just four matches, scoring 78 (53 highest score) this season is a hint that Mumbai, like Chennai, rarely tampers with the line-up. In fact, MI has rested someone like the dangerous Ben Cutting, who fans will remember for his all-round display in Sunrisers Hyderabad winning the 2016 final in Bengaluru. He has played just three matches scoring 18 runs! Interestingly, Yuvraj was also a part of SRH’s victorious campaign then. The body language of the Rohit-led MI players at the training sessions suggests that they are ready for the big challenge under the lights even as the BCCI chief curator Daljit Singh is monitoring the HCA curators Y.L. Chandrasekhar and Mukesh Kumar and their team preparing what is expected to be a perfect T20 wicket.<doc-sep>
Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma played a number of matches for India as teammates and their camaraderie is quite clear from the friendship they share outside the pitch. However, the first encounter between the Mumbai Indians teammates was not a pleasant one and both of them recounted the incident in a video posted on Twitter. “Yuvi (Yuvraj) to me has always been like a big brother. Although the first few experiences were not good. So, Yuvi has a spot in the bus where he goes and sits. And I was sitting there. That’s where me and Yuvi had sort of .. I will not say argument but we had an eye to eye contact,” the MI skipper said in the video. “Not that he is arrogant but he is Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj Singh means attitude and all that,” he added. READ: IPL 2019 Qualifier 2: Dhoni review system strikes again for CSK - Watch Yuvraj, however, was not convinced by Rohit’s version of the story and he believes that it had ‘too much extra spice’. “I remember when he came into the team and I shook his hand. He tells this story with too much extra spice,” he said. Familiar foes and the two most successful teams of the IPL -- Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings -- clash in a mouth-watering final on Sunday. It can’t be disputed that MI go into the final as the favourites, having beaten CSK as many as three times earlier in the tournament including in the Qualifier 1 in Chennai on Tuesday. However, statistics count for little going into the title fight with both teams being in the situation before multiple times. Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai can certainly take confidence out of the fact that they have won three out of the four finals they have been part of, including the two against CSK in 2013 and 2015. For three-time champions CSK, who have entered their eighth final, it has been another remarkable season after last year when they made a triumphant return having serving a two-year suspension. Whatever the outcome may be, the final here will add another memorable chapter to their long-time rivalry. (With agency inputs)