Match 65 of this season's IPL may not be of much significance for the Mumbai Indians (MI), but for the SunRisers Hyderabad, it is a do-or-die encounter The match is being played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where dimensions of the ground along with a heavy dew mean the side choosing to bowl first has a real chance of pocketing the match at the toss itself. Here is the team analysis:
Team analysis of Mumbai Indians
Strengths – Albeit little too late this season, Mumbai Indians are finally coming to the party, with both the bat and the ball. The inclusion of a few young players in their game against CSK was a positive step. Tim David’s performance with the bat has ensured the cricketing pundits and loyalists of the franchise that he’s going to be a successor to Kieron Pollard.
Tilak Varma’s consistent score of runs during this season of the IPL has ensured MI does not have a weak middle order. Jasprit Bumrah tormenting the batters with his yorkers, brutal bouncers, and foxing them with his slower ones, has been a delight for the sore eyes of MI fans. With SRH lacking power and depth in their batting, MI will have an upper hand over them going into this fixture.
Weaknesses – With not much left to get out of this tournament, MI can address their opening partnership. Ishan Kishan’s problem against a moving ball is quite known now. Plus, the fragility of the middle order has come to bite them time and again.
Team analysis of SunRisers Hyderabad
Strengths – For a team to be successful they need to have either a strong batting line-up or bowling line-up or both. SRH have got one i.e. their bowling line-up is all addressed. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, and Washington Sundar are the ones, who have helped SRH reach the pinnacle of success this season. The batting has seldom worked for them, but Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, and Nicholas Pooran have made sure they score runs at a ruthless rate.
Weaknesses – Kane Williamson’s repeated failures with the bat, management’s rigidness of not moving him down the order and poor bowling decisions have been a constant problem for SRH this season. The lack of batting depth and an inexperienced lower middle-order, means SRH haven’t got the power or expertise to chase big totals, and the slow start by Kane Williamson, does little to help an already struggling batting unit.
Impact player for Mumbai Indians
Jasprit Bumrah – Playing at his home ground and with his tail up, not only will he be asking tough questions to SRH’s batters, he will also be displaying his ruthless skills of bowling those brutal toe-crushing yorkers.
Impact player for Sunrisers Hyderabad
Abhishek Sharma – He not only takes the pressure off Kane Williamson but also scores at a healthy strike rate. He is also currently, the leading run-scorer for SRH this season, with 374 runs at a strike rate of 134.
Head-to-head – 18
SRH – 8
MI – 10