IPL 10, Match 48, SRH v MI Preview: Panic mode creeps in for Sunrisers Hyderabad as they take on mighty MI

SRH need to win their last two matches to qualify for the playoffs.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad
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Sunrisers Hyderabad.(Photo: IANS)

The Sunrisers Hyderabad, at one stage in the tournament, looked like cruising towards their title defense. They were one of the first teams to breach the 12-points mark in the tournament. But by the look of things now, they have been stranded at the same score of 13 points in the points table for quite some time. Suddenly, the defending champions see themselves in a situation from where they will have to win their remaining two games to qualify for the playoffs.

Sunrisers have a tough task ahead of them though. They have the might of Mumbai Indians to overall as their first task now. Mumbai Indians are flying high on confidence and will be going into the game riding on the winning momentum. They became the first team to qualify for the playoffs when they beat the Delhi Daredevils at Delhi in their previous game.

Mumbai would want to continue their good in the season now and finish things on a high. Hence, the task for the Sunrisers Hyderabad will not be easy at all. The last time these two sides met in the season at Mumbai, it was a quickfire 37 from Krunal Pandya that had helped Mumbai Indians topple the defending champions by 4 wickets. Will it be a repeat show or will SRH bounce back in the reverse fixture?

Toss: Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bat

Quotes from the toss

David Warner: The records speak for itself but it is a fresh day and we are looking to do well for ourselves. Three changes in our eleven – Nehra is out with an injury. Siraj takes his place. Williamson is out for Nabi and I do not remember the third.

Rohit Sharma: We are going to bat first. It is a good track, we’ve got to come out and play the cricket we have in the last few weeks. We haven’t batted so much in the tournament and are looking to test us out.

Playing XI:

Mumbai Indians: Lendl Simmons, Parthiv Patel(w), Nitish Rana, Rohit Sharma(c), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Nabi, Vijay Shankar, Naman Ojha(w), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj

Focus will be on

Rohit Sharma

For the numbers, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma has two fifties to his name this season. However, is we take those two innings out of the equation, he only has one more score in excess of 20 in the season. He has been dismissed for single digits score on a perennial basis this season and that will be bothering the Mumbai camp. Just when the team thinks that their skipper has got back to the form, Rohit comes up with a mediocre or no show at all in the next game. Will he strike consistency now?

Yuvraj Singh

Veteran Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh had started off the season with a brilliant score to his name against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, as the tournament progressed, he saw his form saw a significant dip. He was under the firing range of the pundits for underperforming in the middle half of the season. Yuvraj got back to form in the match against the Delhi Daredevils. He smashed a brilliant 70 against the Delhi Daredevils to help his side post a total in excess of 180. In the game against Rising Pune Supergiant, he failed to back it up with another good show though.

Lendl Simmons

Mumbai Indians lost a very key member of their side in Jos Buttler. Buttler had been instrumental in giving brilliant starts to the team this season. He had to head back to England for the series against Ireland. Meanwhile, West Indies batter Lendl Simmons was the man getting his first chance in the previous game. Simmons made his presence count in the very first appearance. He hit a masterly 66 that played the anchor innings on the day against the Delhi Daredevils. The focus will be on him to see if he can back it up with another good start.

Team Combinations:

Sunrisers Hyderabad

The Sunrisers Hyderabad will most likely play the same side in the match that played against the Rising Pune Supergiant. The top order has not been a concern for them as Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner have been scoring runs consistently at the top order. Kane Williamson, at number 3, has been doing a great job too. Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques have been inconsistent in the middle order.

Wicketkeeper Naman Ojha has not got a lot of choices to play this season but can surely hit the long ball. Bipul Sharma is likely to retain his place in the team as the second spinner. Rashid Khan will be the first choice spinner in the game. The pace department will see Mohammad Siraj making a comeback to the playing eleven at the expense of Ashish Nehra after the latter suffered a hamstring injury in the previous game.

Mumbai Indians

The Mumbai Indians still have no word on the injury status of Krunal Pandya. Even if Pandya does not get fit in time, they will not be bothered much as Karn Sharma has grabbed his opportunities with both hands. Lendl Simmons has rightly filled the void left by Jos Buttler in the top order. Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya have proved to be ideal finishers for the team.

Nitish Rana is due for a big score after a string of quiet outings in the last few matches. Skipper Rohit Sharma needs to hit his straps right in the middle order too. Bowling looks strong with the pace trio of Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, and Lasith Malinga.

Stat Attack

1 – Number of bowlers to cross 150 wickets in IPL. Lasith Malinga became the first player to do so.

3  – Number of runs needed by Rohit Sharma to overhaul Gautam Gambhir’s total runs in IPL history as the third leading run-getter in IPL.

– Number of times the two teams have faced off at Hyderabad. Both teams have won on two occasions each.

9 – Number of times both the teams have faced each other. Mumbai Indians have won on 5 occasions and SRH have won 4 times.

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