IPL 5 2012: Sights firmly set on a hat-trick of titles, defending champions Chennai Super Kings will open their campaign against last year`s Champions League Twenty20 winner Mumbai Indians in the inaugural match of the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.

The dynamics of the battle have, however, changed quite a bit, especially with the Little Master relinquishing his Team Mumbai captaincy. He is a free man yet again, relieved of the shackles of leading a side that always goes into the tournament as the most-hyped team, and that makes him a different proposition altogether.

Defending champions Chennai, too, know how dangerous Sachin can be. They have made their preparations for him, which the team management obviously won't divulge at the moment. But skipper MS Dhoni made it clear that Mumbai would be very tough to beat under Bhajji as well. "Harbhajan is a feisty player and has the right attitude. He loves challenges and can take adverse conditions in his stride," Dhoni said, looking ahead to Wednesday's game.

Chennai is an extremely well-drilled unit and the skipper gave the impression that they were not too perturbed by Mike Hussey's absence.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Ganapathi Vignesh, Joginder Sharma, Kuthethur Vasudevadas, Murali Vijay, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Srikkanth Anirudha, Subramaniam Badrinath, Sudeep Tyagi, Suresh Raina, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Wriddhiman Saha, Albie Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Francois Du Plessis, George Bailey, Michael Hussey, Nuwan Kulasekara, Scott Styris, Suraj Randiv.

Mumbai Indians (from): Harbhajan Singh (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, Pawan Suyal, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Tirumalasetti Suman, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Rudra Pratap Singh, Aiden Blizzard, Clint McKay, Davy Jacobs, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Herschelle Gibbs, Mitchell Johnson, Robin Peterson, Thisara Perera, Amitoze Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Shukla, Sujit Nayak, Apporv Wankhade, Jaydev Shah, Richard Levi.

Match starts at 8 PM on SET MAX