Well...the countdown is on and the tiny Arab nation is going to steal the spotlight for the next two months and all eyes would unflinchingly be on the screen from the first toss to the last presentation ceremony, as the most anticipated season of the Indian Premier League is about to get kickstarted from September 19 in the United Arab Emirates. 

There would be no better start for the tournament than what the current season is going to present as the IPL 2020 will be relished and remembered for many firsts but most importantly for its first match. Though the COVID-19 outbreak has separated the fans to see the speculate play for their favorite players from the stadiums, the outbreak can't dominate them for the next two months than their favorite battles on the green fields. The first match of the IPL would typically see no larger focus and the season would be used to steal the spotlight on how it unfolds the following matches. 

But for this year, the first match had gained more attention than the start of the season as it would be starting through the hand-shakes of two great captains and rivals. Abu Dhabi would be hosting the first match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on September 19. The champions vs champions have culminated as the best team in the IPL as equal as to how they became the best rivals, and indeed the battle would be sturdy and vigorous like never before. 

As the two most successful captains of the IPL are coming for the battle with their potent armies, what else would a fan ask for than to see the fleets of the hitman and the captain cool? The two most dominated teams have been more tougher against each other and they have made some of the remarkable and most-watched matches for the past 12 years. Dhoni's Kings had played against Indians in the IPL finals for three times, with Indians leading the contest by winning two times including last year. As the defending champions are facing against their predecessors in the opening match of the IPL 2020, let's go for a tour on the path of the rivals over the previous years. 

Head to Head record: 

Mumbai Indians (MI) have been leading in the battle against the Dhoni's fleet as both teams have faced each other 28 times in the IPL with Indians winning 17 matches while the Super Kings won the rest 11 games. With this sort of dominance, MI had registered a higher win percentage of 60.71% and no other team in the IPL had got more than 40% of winning percentage against the CSK other than MI, which shows how the first match of this season has been expected.  In the last five matches between MI and CSK, Indians had white-washed the CSK by winning all the five matches. 

Highest individual scores: 

Both the teams have a perfect and dangerous batting line up. Between the two teams, Sanath Jayasuriya has been the highest run-scorer in MI against CSK. The former Sri Lankan skipper had scored 114 runs in the first edition of the IPL wheres for the CSK, Australia's Michael Hussey had scored 86 runs against the MI in 2013, which has been the highest individual score of the CSK against MI. From the current team, 87 runs from the hitman in 2011, and 80 runs from Shane Watson during last year's final have been on the chart as the next highest scores of the individual players. 

Best bowling figures: 

The fleets of the hitman and captain cool had shown that they shouldn't be underestimated through their untiring and unexpected magical deliveries. The bowling line-up of the teams has been one of the toughest for the opponent batsman to take on the battle. The teams are packed with spinners and seamers. Harbhajan Singh could be a part of CSK currently, but for years, he was playing for Mumbai Indians during his tenure in MI, his bowling figures of 5/18 against the CSK in 2011 remains the best individual bowling figures by a player in CSK and MI matches. 

From the Men in Yellow, Mohit Sharma's figure of 4/14 in the IPL 2014 edition remains the best figures by a CSK bowler against the Mumbai Indians.

Highest wicket-takers: 

Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga has always been a risk factor for Dhoni's army as Malinga has been the highest wicket-taker for Mumbai against Chennai with 31 wickets. Following Malinga, Kieron Pollard of Mumbai had taken 12 wickets against the CSK while his fellow teammate in the Caribbean and rival in the IPL Dwayne Bravo was the highest wicket-taker for Chennai against Mumbai with 25 wickets. In the bowling department, there are two reliefs for both rivals - Lasith Malinga won't be attacking Dhoni's army with his rocket speed while Mumbai Indians would be escaping from Harbhajan's drone of spins as both these bowlers will be missing the current season.

Potent bats and strongest hands: 

The batting line-ups of both the teams have been packed with the potent bats and powerful determination of taking on the rivals. MI's Rohit Sharma has been the leading run-scorer against the CSK by scoring 614 runs. While Rohit for Mumbai, Raina is for Chennai as the latter had scored the highest between the two teams with 704 runs. As Raina would also be missing the current season, all eyes are on Dhoni, who has scored 663 runs against Mumbai. 

This IPL would be the first IPL for Dhoni after retiring from the International Cricket and his tally against Mumbai Indians is the third most against the team in the IPL after Raina and Shikhar Dhawan. 

These players would be record-holders in this IPL:

CSK's all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and MI's fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah are nearing to mark some achievements. Jadeja is just 73 runs away from becoming the first IPL player with over 100 wickets and 2000 runs, whereas Bumrah will become the first Indian seamer to reach 200 wickets in T20s if he adds 18 more wickets to his tally during the current season. Chennai's 'Thala' Dhoni would be making the record of playing the highest number of IPL games. Currently, Raina holds the record by playing 193 matches and Dhoni just needs four more matches to surpass Raina's tally. 

Mumbai's skipper Rohit Sharma is going to get placed on the list of players who had scored 5000 runs in IPL. So far, RCB's Virat Kohli and CSK's Raina are the only players who had crossed 5000 runs. Rohit Sharma is just 102 runs away from completing 5000 runs and if he breaks the record, he would be the first in Mumbai Indians to achieve the feat.