It has been contrasting returns in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Mumbai Indians and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The two teams came into the season with opposing moods around them. While SRH fans were feeling good about their side going all out to get World Cup-winning Australian captain Pat Cummins and then making him skipper, MI fans were dumbfounded by five-time title-winner Rohit Sharma being suddenly replaced by the returning Hardik Pandya in the position The way MI handled the situation with regards to stopping certain questions from being asked angered fans even more and this led to boos ringing out around the stadium almost every time the focus fell on Pandya.
A number of key players, including Pandya himself, have been woefully out of form for MI. In fact, it could be argued that only pace maestro Jasprit Bumrah has delivered for the five-time champions consistently in every match. And yet, MI seem determined to give Bumrah just one over in the first 10 overs, thus often allowing opposition teams to recover from any damage that he did in the middle overs and often running away with the game.
ALSO READ: KL Rahul laments LSG’s ‘poor performance overall’ after Lucknow Super Giants script embarrassing record vs KKR in IPL
Pandya cut a rather beleaguered and frustrated figure at the end of MI’s stunning defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their last game. It marked the first time since 2012, and just the second time in the history of the IPL, that MI had lost to KKR at the Wankhede Stadium. KKR have been one of the teams to beat this season and now, MI face yet another well-oiled machine in the form of SRH. The Sunrisers come into this match on the back of a thrilling one-run win over the Rajasthan Royals, thus condemning the latter to just their second loss of the season. LSG’s loss to KKR on Sunday meant that SRH have climbed up to fourth on the league table going into this match. Meanwhile, MI are languishing at the bottom of the table.
MI likely XI (if batting first)
Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah
MI likely XI (if bowling first)
Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara
Impact players: Nehal Wadhera, Nuwan Thushara
SRH likely XI (if batting first)
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan
SRH Likely XI (if bowling first)
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan
Impact Players: Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Anmolpreet Singh
Head-to-head
There is very little to separate the two sides with MI leading the head-to-head 12-10. MI also hold a 5-2 edge at the Wankhede Stadium. All of it may not matter though considering how this season has gone for both sides.
Pitch Report
The Wankhede Stadium is famous for high-scoring matches in limited-overs cricket. However, we saw a different side to it in the last match that happened here, with both MI and KKR’s spinners coming to the fore. Piyush Chawla picked up 1 for 15 in three overs, while Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy returned identical figures of 2/22 in four overs for KKR.
Fantasy XI
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Gerald Coetzee, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah.
