Mumbai Indians, lying at the bottom of the table with just a solitary win in their six matches so far, will host the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede stadium in the first match of the day.SRH come into the match, on the back of a morale boosting win over defending champions KKR,while MI couldnt build on their victory over RCB, as they were outplayed by Delhi Daredevils with Mumbai lad Shreyas Iyer playing a match winning knock.
Injuries have not helped MI cause with Aaron Finch and Corey Anderson ruled out of the campaign while Josh Hazelwood was kept off from taking part in the IPL by Cricket Australia.Colin Munro and Ben Hilfenhaus has been drafted in as replacements with the latter more likely to get an appearance considering MI’s lacklustre bowling efforts. Only Harbhajan Singh seems to be a threat now, with Malinga playing the role of curtailing the runs rather than taking wickets.The batting also remains a worry, with the starts not getting converted to big scores. Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard as usual with much responsibility.
Their opponents SRH have their own share of problems, with the over dependency on their opening pair, especially Warner and struggling to get the balance of the team right. Kane Williamson, Eoin Morgan and Moises Henriques all have been tried for the fourth overseas spot, but none have clicked so far. They also face the Steyn vs Boult conundrum.The pacey track at Wankhede might tempt the SRH management to play the both of them. But that will add even more strain to the weak middle order for SRH. Warner has bagged the MoM award in both of SRH’s victories and if he misses out, SRH seem to be in all sorts of trouble to build a big score.
srikantkk 