As Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) face Mumbai Indians (MI) in the last league match of IPL 2020, they have their fate in their own hands, a luxury that stragglers rarely have at these stages. If they come out on top against MI, they go to the third place in the points table, eliminating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) from the league.
In yesterday’s clash against Delhi, Virat Kohli’s Bangalore didn’t let their Net run-rate fall below that of KKR, which means that they have qualified and would be unaffected by the result of this game.
SRH’s combinations have done well in the last couple of games with Wriddhiman Shah proving to be a brilliant replacement for Jonny Bairstow at the top. Jason Holder has contributed with both bat and ball, further boosting the unit. Bowling has never been a concern for SRH, and that brilliance is being but on display now. The presence of the likes of Kane Williamson, Holder and Manish Pandey has freed David Warner to play his shots, who is finally showing his real prowess.
For Mumbai Indians, things couldn’t have gone better. They have won 9 out their 13 matches and rest comfortable at the top of the table. In their last game, they casually strolled out without their long-time skipper Rohit Sharma (who has been out since a few games) and designated finisher Hardik Pandya (who was rested) and won clinically. They are probably the only team who have afforded to rest their players as and when they have felt like it.
One can get a sense of their dominance by the fact that just two out of their four defeats were convincing ones, while the other two came in super overs, one in the first super overs, and one in a game that went into two super overs.
SRH are unlikely to tinker with their winning combination in such a crucial game. While MI, if they decide to swap a few players, might give a game to Chris Lynn and Mitchell McClenaghan in place of Quinton de Kock and any of the overseas pacers.
Likely 11s:
SRH: David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
MI: Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock/Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard (c), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile/Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan
