Published: Oct 03, 2020, 08:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 03, 2020, 08:00 PM (IST)
In another high-voltage encounter of Indian Premier League on super Sunday, defending champions Mumbai Indians taking will take on high-flying Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in match no. 17.
Boasting an explosive batting line-up that complements their affective death bowling, Mumbai Indians will have their nose ahead in the IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. To add to SRH’s worry, doubts remained over lead seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s participation in the match. Bhuvneshwar picked up an injury on Friday night and was unable to complete his final over in the game against Chennai Super Kings. He walked off the field with the help of the team physio. In the event the experienced seamer misses out, table-toppers Mumbai will fancy their chances more at the Sharjah Stadium, whose boundaries are much shorter than Dubai and Abu Dhabi and have been a paradise for power-hitters. The defending champions, having humbled a strong Kings XI Punjab in their last game, are unlikely to make any changes to the winning combination. Skipper Rohit Sharma is in sublime form and he can pummel any attack into submission on his day. Rohit has scored 170 runs from four games this season.
SRH will also take a lot of confidence from their seven-run win over CSK, where all their youngsters delivered after the big guns failed to fire. The team management would be hoping that skipper David Warner, Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey are among the runs again. Kane Williamson also is a certainty in the playing XI, given his ability to take the innings deep and hold one end up.
If the senior’s fire, that will reduce the pressure on young guns Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg and Abdul Samad. But if Bhuvneshwar misses out, that would mean more pressure on yorker specialist T Natarajan, left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed and star spinner Rashid Khan.
Despite boasting some of the best hitters in the tournament, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad are in for an absolute run-fest best bowling attacks in the competition at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The dimensions of the ground also go against the bowlers, with more than 40 sixes having been hit at this venue in two IPL matches at the time of writing. Although there will be a hint of swing on offer with the new ball, the bowlers will have a tough time with there being little room for error. Change of pace has been relatively successful at this venue, which is something the batsmen will be wary of in the middle overs. With this being a second-afternoon fixture, both teams will ideally want to bat first and set a target of at least 200.
Kieron Pollard (VC), Jonny Bairstow, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, David Warner (C), Abdul Samad, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, T Natarajan and Rashid Khan.
Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Digvijay Deshmukh, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Pattison, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prince Balwant Rai, Quinton De Kock, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shreevats Goswami, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, B Sandeep, Sanjay Yadav, Fabian Allen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi.
