IPL 2021| MI vs SRH: Sunrisers desperate for X-factor to avert hat-trick of losses against mighty Mumbai

It will be a desperate situation for the Sunrisers Hyderabad when they will take on the defending champions Mumbai Indians in Chennai on April 17. 

The Mumbai Indians have dusted off the rust that plagues them at the start of a season with a win over the Knight Riders in their last game, while the Sunrisers Hyderabad have been guilt of messing their tactics around to lose both their games from situations they should have closed the game down.

Rohit Sharma was sharp and proactive in the field while defending a par score to bring about a collapse of the Knight Riders batting order. After the batsmen failed to come to the party once again on a pitch that will seriously invoke change in the decision-making process in terms of batting first due to its slowness in the second innings.

On the other hand, the Sunrisers were not lagging behind the curve against the RCB open both an aggressive and temperamental front. First, slow batting from Manish Pandey at the top did not provide any momentum for the middle order to breathe easy, and then the middle-order crumbled under pressure as they lost a many as three wickets in one over.

Manish Pandey conundrum

Manish Pandey has spent considerable time at the crease in both the games the Sunrisers have played this season, but instead of taking the team home, his struggled to get going and lack of intent has put pressure on other batsmen. He too has failed to capitalise on slow starts and has been dismissed at the worst possible time to leave the Sunrisers in a disarray.

In the last game against the RCB, he was down the track to hit the left-arm spinner, Shahbaz Ahmed, over the top just a ball after the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow. It started a collapse of the middle order which the Sunrises could not come back from.

If the men in orange have to stand a chance to make a comeback, Manish Pandey will have to rediscover his mojo in the third game of the season against the Mumbai Indians, or else, the Sunrisers will be in a whole heap of trouble with three consecutive losses.

Win the toss and bat first- Finally?

Chasing scores have become the mantra of success in T20 cricket over the years with pitches becoming more and more helpful for the batsmen. 

However, the pitches being produced at Chepauk in IPL have shown no help for the batsmen, more so in the second innings when the ball starts gripping and batsmen struggle to find their timing.

In all the matches that have been played this year in Chennai, the teams chasing have gone on to lose the game with the side bowling second employing a lot of cutters to deceive batsmen.

An increasingly successful tactic of batting second has been tested severely by the pitches in Chennai, and it would not come as a surprise if Rohit Sharma or David Warner decide to bat first when they win the toss on the night of the game.

Mumbai need more from middle-order

After an early wicket of de Kock, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav took Mumbai to a position of significant strength by the 10th over. 

However, Yadav’s wicket led to a collapse of the middle order except for a short partnership between Rohit and Hardik Pandya otherwise the story could have been a lot worse than it was.

There was not even a single five-wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians in the season before the ongoing one, but they have gifted two fifers in the last two games.

In the first game, it was Harshal Patel who rose to new heights while Andre Russell was the benefactor of Mumbai’s middle-order collapse in the last game.

Eoin Morgan had held back Andre Russell till the 18th over and he went on to take a fifer in a span of 12 balls to dismiss the Mumbai Indians.

All middle-order batsman following Yadav could neither go off to a berserk start nor they could manage to last long to have any impact on the game with the bat.

Going into the game against the Sunrisers where they will come against a potent weapon in the middle phase in the form of Rashid Khan, Rohit would be hoping for a disciplined act from his middle-order batsmen who have been instrumental in establishing Mumbai’s dominance in the league.

Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Match Details

Match Number-09

Date and Time: April 17, 07:30 pm IST, 02: 00 pm GMT

Venue: M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar

Pitch and weather

The pitches in Chennai have been slower and lower in nature where bowlers have relied on variations such as off-paced deliveries and cutters to get at the top of the batsmen.

Run-scoring has not been easy in all the game so far this season in Chennai and there is no definite sign of changing such a trend in the game between the Mumbai Indians and the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Team News

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai will have a full-strength squad to pick from with the return of Quinton de Kock in the last game.

Ishan Kishan who was at the forefront of Mumbai’s domination last year with the bat has found it tough this time around. He has not been able to spend some time in the middle so far and would love to do so against the Sunrisers before attempting to tee off.

The bowling attack looks stronger than ever with the leg spinner Rahul Chahar producing a match-winning spell and Krunal Pandya finding his tight line and lengths in the game against the Knight Riders.

However, the uncertainty surrounding Hardik Pandya’s fitness remains and Kieron Pollard has been assigned the task of the sixth bowler if needed.

Mumbai are likely to field an unchanged playing XI from the last game.

Strongest XI

Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers tweaked their playing XI but could not extract the desired result in the game against the RCB. Now, they will surely be contemplating bringing Kane Williamson back in the middle order to pace his innings and with that anchor the batting efforts of the Sunrisers who have missed stability in the middle.

However, bringing back Williamson would mean giving up on either Jonny Bairstow or Jason Holder— both of whom can bring substantial match-winning performances on their own.

Another puzzle the Sunrisers will have to deal with will be the issue of Wrridhiman Saha who has looked clearly out of touch. The Sunrisers can ask Bairstow to open the batting with Warner and replace Saha with Abhishek Sharma that will also strengthen the spin department that has been bare except for the quality of Rashid Khan.

Strongest XI

David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Shahbaz Nadeem

MI vs SRH: Dream XI/fantasy XI

Jonny Bairstow, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard,  Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar

Captain: Suryakumar Yadav

Vice-captain: Abdul Samad