IPL 2018: Match 27, Player Battles – Shane Watson vs Jasprit Bumrah

The defending champions Mumbai Indians are placed at the bottom of the table after losing five of their first six games and are doubtful of making it to the final four. Though the results don’t show the whole picture of how MI performed in the tournament, they can’t afford even the smallest of mistakes on the field from here on. They are probably the only team with a settled line-up of Indian players but need to show consistency along with the overseas stars and convert their performances into results.

They will face Chennai Super Kings in the reverse fixture of Saturday that could be the start of a winning streak for MI. Both the teams faced off in the season opener where CSK chased down 47 runs in the last three overs as they took the game away from MI’s hands. It won’t be easy for Mumbai to stop the Super Kings’ batting as they have found a hero for every game. All the top order batsmen of CSK have scored at least one fifty except Ravindra Jadeja in this tournament so far.

Jasprit Bumrah will have to play a key role in restricting the strong CSK batting line-up. Bumrah does have a good record against the likes of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni but he hasn’t delivered up to his reputation in this season. His last overs cost the game twice for MI as he conceded 20 runs in an over against CSK and 18 against RR. Shane Watson will be eager to step in at the MCA Stadium in Pune where he scored his 3rd IPL century in the previous game.

He will be the one to watch out in the game against Mumbai and Chennai. With Bumrah used to bowl a couple of overs in the powerplay, he will be expected to narrow down the threat from Shane Watson. The Australian faced 20 balls from Bumrah in the IPL so far scoring only ten runs and got out twice at the same time. Watson hit only one boundary and batted out 13 dot balls off Bumrah out of the 20.

Shane Watson vs Jasprit Bumrah:

(Stats as on April 27, 2018)