So after all this drama, emotions, wins, losses, super overs, last ball thrillers, and whatnot, it has come down to the last league match and we still don’t have the final four teams in the Playoffs. Yes, it has been tough and intense. No doubt there have been one-sided games as well, but overall the tournament has remained intense.
In the last match, where Mumbai have nothing to lose, apart from maybe just irrelevant two points, Hyderabad will put everything they have in the store to win this and make it through to the last four. The Kieron Pollard led team is coming on the back of consecutive wins, while Hyderabad too have performed well to reach a position where they have their fate in their own hands.
Hyderabad’s captain David Warner hasn’t really had the season people associate with him as a batter. Although he has scored runs and actually 444 of them, even after that, he has looked off colour barring some flashes. But as they say, big players are made for big stages, so the stage is all set for Warner to finally flourish and guide his team to the final four.
No match is a dead match has been exemplified in this IPL and although Mumbai Indians have qualified and are well and truly the favorites to win this season, one bad day and it could all come crashing over. To avoid that, Mumbai must not get complacent in this game and must not let the game slipway from their hands, as winning is a habit, if you lose one, it’s gone.
Match Number- 56
Date: 03rd November 2020, at 7:30 PM IST, 06:00 PM Local, 2.00 PM GMT
Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah,
Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar
The pitch in Sharjah has usually favoured the spin bowlers at the beginning of the match; it does sometimes help the pacers with the breeze to get a bit of swing as well. But post the first innings, it’s basically a slippery road with no help to the bowlers what so ever, all thanks to a huge amount of dew.
There are no prizes for guessing as to what a team winning the toss would do. It is a ritual, win the toss and field first. The reason for this is the weather. With the winters setting in, the humidity has gone out and the dew has settled to make grounds their permanent abode.
Hyderabad won the last game and that too quite comprehensively against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Their batters are firing and their bowlers have adapted quite well. In this case, chances are that they would not go for any change.
David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
In an ideal world, one may say that Mumbai should give chance to all those who deserve it, but could not get as those already in the team were performing well. But in reality, hoping for a change would be too much until and unless someone like Jasprit Bumrah wants to rest. Hardik Pandya might just come back to play the game before the Playoffs, but that is also conditional on his mood and that of the franchise as well.
Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard (c), Jayant Yadav/ Hardik Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Quinton de Kock (c), David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Kane Williamson, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
Captain: Quinton de Kock
Vice-Captain: Suryakumar Yadav
Powered by Froala Editor