Published: May 16, 2015, 02:24 PM (IST)
Edited: May 17, 2015, 06:49 PM (IST)
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) take on Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 56 on the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad. Both teams are on 14 points at the moment and the winner of the match will go through to the playoffs.
SRH lost a thrilling game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their previous match. The match was reduced due to rain and as a result RCB chased down 81 from six overs courtesy of some hard hitting from Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli. The encouraging sign for SRH was the fact that Moises Henriques got a blistering half-century and followed it up with a couple of wickets. READ: RCB win thriller against SRH
MI on the other hand just scraped past Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their earlier match, and kept their hopes of making it to the playoffs alive. Hardik Pandya stole the show with an unbeaten 31-ball 61. Although all the MI bowlers went for runs, they somehow managed to hold on to their nerves, and steal the game right in the end. READ: MI edge KKR out by five runs
SRH have an excellent balance in their team. David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan have ofter gotten their teams off to good starts and will look to repeat the same against MI. They have Henriques coming into the middle-order in rich form. Eoin Morgan’s return to form is encouraging signs for them as well. Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar will once again be entrusted to ensure that they do not leak runs. Harbhajan’s four overs too are important in determining the fate of the game. IPL 2015 Highest run-scorer: List of best batsmen in IPL 8
As far as MI are concerned, they too have a settled opening pair in Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel. Ambati Rayudu and skipper Rohit Sharma will want to get among the runs in this all-important match. Even if SRH get past the top order the likes of Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh can be intimidating at the latter stages of the innings. Lasith Malinga and his variations could prove to be the difference the two sides. IPL 2015: Schedule with venue details
SRH will look to bounce back from their defeat and MI, while MI will aim to carry their momentum on into this game. After a tremulous start, MI will be delighted to stay alive in the tournament going into their final group stage match. No team will want a rain-reduced match this time, although the chances of it pouring down are quite high. If the match is abandoned, SRH will retain the fourth spot and their fate will be sealed depending n how the results of some other match go. IPL 2015: Points Table and Team Standings
In a crunch game like this, toss could be a crucial factor. Winning the toss and putting the score on the board would be ideal, but with rain threat looming large, it will not be surprising if the captains decide to have a bowl first. IPL 2015: Complete Coverage
Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Dale Steyn, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult, Kane Williamson, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Naman Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Ashish Reddy, Parvez Rasool, Moises Henriques, Ravi Bopara, Ricky Bhui, Chama Milind, Eoin Morgan, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Bipul Sharma, Hanuma Vihari.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Unmukt Chand, Aditya Tare (wk), Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Corey Anderson, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, J Suchith, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprith Bumrah, Pawan Suyal, Akshay Wakhare, R Vinay Kumar, Aiden Blizzard, Siddhesh Lad, Mitchell McClenaghan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Marchant de Lange, Hardik Pandya.
Time: 20.00 IST | 14.30 GMT
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
