Playing 11 of cricketers to have featured for MI & CSK ft. Mustafizur Rahman
Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have been two of the most successful franchises in IPL history. Both teams joined the competition in 2008, and since then, they have won five championships each.
Mumbai Indians became the first franchise to win five titles as they became the champions in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020 seasons of the IPL. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings won the title in the years 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023.
The biggest reason behind the success of the two teams is the way they build their team and back the players. Interestingly, some common names have played for both MI and CSK in the league.
Here's a strong playing XI of such cricketers.
Openers - Dwayne Smith and Michael Hussey
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Smith will open the batting with Michael Hussey for this team. Smith scored 620 runs in 22 innings for MI. His strike rate was almost 130, while his career-best knock of 87* came in the blue jersey of Mumbai. For CSK, Smith amassed 965 runs in 32 innings at an average of 30.16.
Hussey, who is currently CSK's batting coach, won the Orange Cap in the yellow jersey back in 2013. He moved to Mumbai in 2014, where he scored 209 runs in nine innings. He ended his IPL career at CSK in 2015.
Middle Order - Parthiv Patel (wk), Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, and Krishnappa Gowtham
The middle-order comprises three wicketkeepers, namely Parthiv Patel, Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayudu. Patel started his career at CSK, where he scored 516 runs in 26 innings. His career peaked at Mumbai from 2015 to 2017. In those three seasons, Patel amassed 911 runs.
Robin Uthappa started his IPL journey at Mumbai Indians and retired after a season with Chennai Super Kings. For CSK, his tally was 345 runs in 15 innings, while in the blue colors of Mumbai, he aggregated 320 runs in 14 innings.
Ambati Rayudu's role changed multiple times during his stints with MI and CSK. He majorly played as a middle-order batter, but his best season came in 2018 when he played as an opener for Chennai. Rayudu scored 602 runs in that tournament. For Mumbai, his best season came in 2011, where he aggregated 395 runs.
Dwayne Bravo won the Purple Cap while playing for Chennai in 2013 and 2015. In the MI jersey, he picked up 26 wickets and scored 457 runs in 30 games. Spin-bowling all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham has achieved a unique feat in the IPL. He won the trophy with Mumbai in 2017 and Chennai in 2021. However, he never played a match for any of the two franchises.
Bowlers - Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Mustafizur Rahman, and Ashish Nehra
The bowling lineup features two specialist spinners and two left-arm fast bowlers. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh played 10 seasons for Mumbai and then turned up for Chennai in 2018 and 2019. In total, he bagged 150 wickets for the two teams, with 127 coming for Mumbai.
Karn Sharma won back-to-back IPL trophies in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, he won the title with Mumbai, and in 2018, he was a part of CSK's winning squad. The leggie took 13 wickets for Mumbai and 10 wickets for Chennai.
Mustafizur Rahman recently made his debut for Chennai and took a four-wicket haul against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The Bangladeshi pacer played seven matches for Mumbai, scalping seven wickets.
The last player of this team is Ashish Nehra, who took 12 wickets in 14 games for MI and then had the best stint of his IPL career with Chennai in 2014 and 2015. In those two seasons, Nehra bagged 30 wickets in just 20 games.