The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad is the venue for Sunday’s grand finale between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. The 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) has provided more than its fair share of mindboggling moments and entertained us for over a month. After 59 matches, it’s all boiled down to IPL’s two most successful teams locking horns in the final for a chance to become the league’s first-ever four-time champions.

Although anything is possible in a final, our boys will be confident and shall have fond memories of the venue for the final for that matter. The only team to boast a better head-to-head record against CSK in the league, MI have gotten the better of Chennai thrice already this season. Mumbai can also draw inspiration from the fact that our previous two encounters against Chennai in the 2013 and 2015 finals have ended in MI’s favour.

Interestingly, our last IPL triumph in 2017 was at the very same venue against a Rising Pune Supergiant team that was led by MS Dhoni. Mumbai beat Pune by 1 run in that game, which featured six players from our camp that are likely to be involved in Sunday’s final as well. Krunal Pandya was adjudged Man of the Match in the final against RPS, while Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard received the Man of the Match awards for the 2015 and 2013 finals respectively.

Hyderabad as a venue though is likely to have a massive bearing on the eventual outcome of the contest. MI boast a good 60% win rate at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium having won six of the 10 games we’ve played at the venue. The overall win rate at the venue for teams batting first is just 41.27%. Having said that, it is worth noting that the win rate for teams batting first rises to 57.14 % in IPL 2019.

While batting first, the average first innings score across all seasons has been 158. However, the average first innings score has gone up to 175 this campaign and it’ll be something both sides will be wary of. Our match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in April saw us score 136 batting first. When it was Hyderabad’s turn to bat, our bowlers steamrolled them by ensuring they were all-out in the 18th over.

Alzarri Jospeh was our star with the ball that night as the debutant took everyone by surprise with figures of 6 for 12 – the best-ever in IPL history. Once again on Sunday, our pacers should be braced to play a big role. Pace bowlers have taken 50 wickets at Hyderabad compared to spinners, who’ve combined for 29 scalps at the venue this year. Pacers have also bowled 348 dot balls compared to 227 by spinners and have a superior average of 25.86 when compared to the spinners’ average of 30.83.