Mumbai: Plumbing the depths of the points table in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, the only direction Mumbai Indians can now go is climb up the standings when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 55 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.
Considering the way their campaign has unfolded so far, getting things their way seems as good as impossible for Hardik Pandya’s side as they have suffered defeats in eight of the 11 matches they have played so far this season. They have failed to stitch together a complete performance in most of their matches, losing games after excelling in one department of the match.
Like in their clash with Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday (May 3) when they bundled out the visitors for 169 as their bowlers used the double-paced wicket to their advantage to restrict them. Jasprit Bumrah and Nuwan Thushara claimed three wickets apiece while Hardik Pandya bagged 2-44.
With Thushara striking three early blows, KKR were reduced to 57/5 but Mumbai Indians allowed them to recover from there, bringing in spinners Naman Dhir and Piyush Chawla instead of pressing on with the pacers. Venkatesh Iyer scored a valiant 52-ball 70 and shared an 83-run partnership with Manish Pandey (42) as they rescued Kolkata Knight Riders.
Chasing 170, Mumbai Indians lost the plot as batters like Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, and Nehal Wadhera got out cheaply. Suryakumar Yadav waged a lone battle, scoring 56 off 35 balls, and hitting a flurry of shots as he tried to lift them from a precarious 71/6.
His wicket and the one of Tim David triggered another collapse as Andre Russell and Mitchell Starc shared five wickets between them to hasten the demise of their hopes. Starc claimed three wickets in the 19th over for a final haul of 4-33 as KKR won by 24 runs for their first victory at the Wankhede Stadium in 12 years.
Agreed that the wicket was two-paced but it was also true that some of the MI batters were out to full tosses.
With six points from 11 matches, Mumbai Indians will hope to win their remaining three matches and salvage their pride even if other results do not go in their favour and help them make it to the Playoffs.
Mumbai Indians are going into the match with four successive defeats and considering their up-and-down form, Hardik Pandya’s team will have to pull up their socks to restore some pride.
Meanwhile, their opponents for Monday’s clash, Sunrisers Hyderabad have everything to play for as they are placed fourth in the standings and still in the running for the playoffs spots.
SRH have 12 points from six wins in 10 matches and are placed fourth in the points table, clubbed together with Lucknow Super Giants behind Rajasthan Royals (16) and Kolkata Knight Riders (14).
SRH need to win their remaining four matches as the race for the playoffs spots is going to be neck-and-neck. The good thing for them is that they have recovered after two successive defeats against Southern rivals Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
They travel to Mumbai after a victory over table-toppers Rajasthan Royals. After four successive wins starting with a six-wicket win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Under the leadership of Pat Cummins, SRH have done well so far in the league with openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in great form and the likes of Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram complimenting their efforts with superb batting when needed.
Reddy has been their find of the season and had struck a 42-ball unbeaten 76 in their last match while Travis Head blasted 58 off 44 balls while Klaasen smashed a 19-ball 42. For them, Travis Head (396), Klaasen (337) and Abhishek Sharma (315) were their top scorers.
T. Natarajan and Pat Cummins are their most successful bowlers so far with 15 and 12 respectively. Bhuvneshwar and Jaydev Undakat have claimed eight wickets apiece.
Going by the last match played there, the pitch is likely to offer some assistance to the bowlers and considering their strength in this department, the force would be with SRH in Monday’s clash.
Overall, Mumbai Indians have dominated the head-to-head series, winning 12 out of the 21 matches played between them while SRH have won nine.
SRH had defeated Mumbai Indians by 31 runs in a high-scoring clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on March 27, scoring 277/3 batting first with Klaasen hammering an unbeaten 80 while Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma scoring 62 and 63 respectively. They then restricted MI to 246/5 with Tilak Varma anchoring the innings with 64.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Piyush Chawla, Luke Wood, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Shams Mulani, Dewald Brevis, Kumar Kartikeya, Shreyas Gopal, Harvik Desai, Gerald Coetzee, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Shivalik Sharma, Anshul Kamboj, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Umran Malik, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh.
Match starts at 7:30 pm on Star Sports (TV) and JioCinema (mobile).
(IANS)
