Desperate MI eye big win over lowly SRH to bolster playoffs chances
Mumbai: Five-time champions Mumbai Indians will be desperate for a victory by a big margin over wooden spooners Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Sunday, in what could also be their last outing in this year’s Indian Premier League. While SRH are already ruled out of the race to the playoffs, Mumbai Indians, who have one last chance left, will be keen to make the most of their excellent show here at the Wankhede Stadium this season so far, and bolster their chances of qualification.
With four wins and two defeats, MI have certainly taken full advantage of their home ground, something that Rohit Sharma’s men would want to continue as they also have the final opportunity to improve their Net Run Rate (NRR).
Unlike Rajasthan Royals who have finished the league round with 14 points and a superior NRR of 0.148, Mumbai Indians can do one better and end with 16 points, but they must also win big. Currently at fourth, Royal Challengers Bangalore can be described as being in pole position since they have a better NRR of 0.180 than MI (-0.128) and RR. RCB can also grab two vital points if they get the better of Gujarat Titans, but more importantly, Faf du Plessis’ side would know what exactly is required of them since they play the last game of the league round later on Sunday evening.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Chris Jordan, Arshad Khan, Jason Behrendorff, Dewald Brevis, Piyush Chawla, Tim David, Raghav Goyal, Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan (wk), Duan Jansen, Chris Jordan, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Riley Meredith, Shams Mulani, Ramandeep Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Hrithik Shokeen, Tristan Stubbs, Arjun Tendulkar, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Suryakumar Yadav.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Aiden Markram (c), Abdul Samad, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Yadav, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akeal Hosein and Anmolpreet Singh.