At the start of IPL 2022, not many would have expected Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings to be lurking at the bottom of the points table for most of the season. But that’s how it has turned out to be. Five-time champions Mumbai are out of the race for the playoffs, while defending champions Super Kings are hanging by the thinnest of the threads.

But Super Kings are not too worried about if and how they can qualify for the playoffs. In fact, they seem to have already started planning for the next year.

In Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway, they have figured out their opening pair. The two have put together one half-century and two century stands in just four innings. In the bowling department, Mukesh Choudhary seems to have turned the page after a poor start to the season.

Mumbai, too, can follow that path and try out uncapped South African Tristan Stubbs. He could replace Ramandeep Singh, with Basil Thampi coming in for Riley Meredith to keep the overseas players’ count to four. Or, Stubbs can replace an out-of-form Kieron Pollard in a direct swap, but that will leave Rohit Sharma with just five bowling options. And if there is a match Mumbai want Pollard the bowler for, it’s this one. (See “Strategy punts”)

Chennai Super Kings 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Simarjeet Singh, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Mukesh Choudhary

Mumbai Indians 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Tristan Stubbs/Ramandeep Singh, 5 Tim David, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Daniel Sams, 8 Hrithik Shokeen, 9 Kumar Kartikeya, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Basil Thampi/Riley Meredith