The uniqueness of the Indian Premier League is that any team can beat any other team on a given day and maybe that is what has kept Mumbai Indians, the defending champions alive and still hopeful for a place in the Playoffs, even as the tournament heads to its last day of the league stages on October 8.
Although the chances of Mumbai making it to the Playoffs is almost negligible with Kolkata Knight Riders beating Rajasthan Royals in their last match. But mathematically, the Rohit Sharma led side still has a chance.
The chance is very simple. Win the toss and bat first. If they lose the toss, the game is done and dusted there itself as the only chance of MI making it to the Playoffs is by winning their last match against Sunrisers by a margin of 171 runs or more.
To avail that chance, it needs to put in a performance far greater than their last one against Rajasthan Royals, where they chased down the total in only 8.2 overs to make themselves even a contender for the Playoffs.
If MI are unable to win by a margin of 171 runs or more, their net run rate which is at -0.048 currently, will not be able to get past KKR’s +0.587 and thus even if Mumbai wins the game, KKR on the virtue of a better net run rate will make it to the Playoffs.
While this is about Mumbai, what about Hyderabad? What are they looking for? Having trashed the party of Royal Challengers Bangalore, dashing almost all their hopes of finishing in the top two, the bottom-placed unit would look to rally one last time and finish the dismal season with a final hurray.
They can be way more dangerous than playing an already qualified team and who knows better than RCB about it? The Hyderabad side has nothing to lose and in that case, Mumbai, which has everything to lose might become vulnerable, giving a chance for Kane Williamson’s men to strike hard.
Match number: 55
Date and Time: October 08, 2021, 07:30 pm IST (10:00 GMT), 06:00 pm Local, 02:00 pm GMT
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Broadcast and Livestream: Star Sports and Hotstar
The pitches throughout UAE haven’t really been supportive of batting as it was the last time around in 2020. The squares have dried up with a lot of cricket having been already played. Thus in this game also, any score around and above 150-160 would be par and the team defending should look to make it as tough as possible for the team chasing.
The temperatures would be in the mid-thirties and humidity would keep on increasing as the match progresses. There might be dew later on and thus, any team winning the toss would look to bowl first.
Since Hyderabad won a game after a very long time playing one combination, it would be very difficult to imagine them abandoning altogether or even making the slightest of changes to it until and unless there is any injury scare.
Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Umran Malik
Mumbai on the other hand seemed to have found their mojo back with the introduction of Jimmy Neesham and Ishan Kishan in the squad in place of Krunal Pandya and Quinton de Kock respectively. Jayant Yadav’s introduction is a blessing in disguise considering that he can bowl very well on the dry pitches of Abu Dhabi. Thus no changes are in sight in this Playing XI either.
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jayant Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan
Batters Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jason Roy, Kane Williamson
All-rounders Jason Holder, James Neesham
Bowlers Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jasprit Bumrah, Rashid Khan, Umran Malik
Vice-Captain Jason Holder
Captain Ishan Kishan