Image Credit- BCCI
Mumbai Indians will be locking horns with the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a bid to get off the foot of the table and lend some semblance of pride to a season that has had more questions than answers. While SRH will be looking to give their playoff ambitions a boost, it won’t be easy against a side wounded like the 5-time champs at a venue where they have not tasted a lot of success.
However, certain questions could very well shape the nature of this contest and the way it pans out. We take a look at 3 such questions which could garner a lot of attention.
1. Do Mumbai rest Bumrah?
With Mumbai’s playoff chances virtually over (they do have a chance, but that is purely mathematical), it could be time for the side to start putting some players on the ice with an eye on the T20 World Cup that will be starting one month from now. One such name is Jasprit Bumrah. In a bowling lineup that has failed to imbibe confidence at any stage of the tournament, Bumrah has remained a lone lighthouse in a bowling attack besotted with mediocrity. He has time and again delivered whenever his captain has handed him the ball and sits on top of the purple cap standings with 17 scalps. But with Bumrah set to lead the Indian bowling attack in the USA, it could be time to look at load management for Bumrah and give the rest of the fringe bowling options a little game time. But with MI’s bowling lacking bite, will he actually be rested?
2. Do Sunrisers have a proper Plan B?
There is no doubt that the Orange Army has been one of the most dangerous batting outfits this IPL. A batting lineup that contains the likes of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, and Heinrich Klaasen is a dangerous sight for any bowling attack, but with the team’s propensity to attack incessantly, the approach inadvertently becomes a double-edged sword. It’s all well and good when the approach works, as scores of 277, 287, and 266 can point out, but on the days that it doesn’t, the side does not look comfortable and they lose their way, as the losses to RCB and CSK showed. Will the SRH think-tank come up with a contingency that can offset an early collapse and take them to a formidable total at the same time? We could see that tonight.
3. Can Rohit and Ishan find their rhythm once again?
The last time these two sides met, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan went hell for leather and that started a run of 6-7 games when both of them gave MI flying starts at the top of the order. However, those starts have now petered out and inconsistencies have begun to show up in both of their batting. The fact that they lose both of them frequently within the first 6 overs- Kishan has been dismissed 7 times and Rohit 6, has not helped matters for a batting side that have more often than not looked behind the pace in their batting. Rohit’s form especially has been in the microscope- ever since that 100 against CSK, Rohit has crossed 11 runs just one time and has only scored 65 in those 5 innings. With potentially nothing to lose from here on, will both of MI’s openers finally recapture their lost form and give the side something to build on?