An explosive batting line-up that complements their effective death bowling gives Mumbai Indians an edge when they lock horns with an upbeat Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sharjah Stadium on Sunday.
Besides, what adds to Sunrisers’ worry is doubts over Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s participation in the game. Bhuvneshwar picked up an injury on Friday night and was unable to complete his final over in the game versus Chennai Super Kings. He walked off the field with the help of the team physio.
If the experienced seamer misses out, Mumbai Indians will be fancying their chances more at the Sharjah Stadium, where boundaries are shorter.
Yet, the defending champions are wary of getting carried away by the temptation to go for the big strokes.
“Sunrisers have got a few good bowlers,” Mumbai Indians batsman Ishan Kishan said, by way of caution.
“We know it’s a small stadium, but at the same time, if we don’t get loose balls, we have to be cautious. And if the tempo is on our side, we just have to keep going.
“It is just about selecting the balls that you can hit. Of course, the ground size is a plus point for the batsmen, so the teams are going to go for big shots.”
On his part too, young Kishan would be looking to make amends after a scratchy 32-ball 28 in Mumbai Indians’ previous game, which stemmed the flow of runs till captain Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya compensated in the last five overs of their innings.
“The pitch wasn’t easy. It was two-paced with variable bounce. Sometimes it was coming on to the bat, sometimes it was holding.
“It was difficult for me to think which was the perfect ball I should go for. The boundary was quite big on the leg side. You must have seen the Kings XI batsmen also struggle,” Kishan said.
In Dubai, both Kings XI Punjab and CSK would look to come back to winning ways having lost three of their four matches.
Kings XI will be coming back fresher getting a bit of a rest, but it’s kind of a back-to-back game for the ageing, struggling Super Kings side that were beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday night.
Kings XI, though, may look to make a change or two in their XI, especially with the likes of Karun Nair and Glenn Maxwell failing to fire.
Today’s matches
- Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sharjah (3.30pm IST)
- Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings, Dubai (7.30pm IST)