New Delhi:
Sunrisers Hyderabad shall be locking horns against table topper Mumbai Indians in an IPL encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium at Hyderabad later on Monday. The match is scheduled to commence at 8 pm. Mumbai Indians who have already qualified for the play-offs would look to further look to aim for a top two finish in the league standings.
Meanwhile, the defending champs Sunrisers Hyderabad who are also placed among the top four in the points table shall look to secure a win and make a strong case for a top four finish. The two sides have met each other on 9 occasions with Mumbai Indians taking a slight advantage, winning five of those encounters.
Mumbai Indians shall be coming into the game at the back of a hat trick of wins. They decimated Delhi Daredevils at Feroz Shah Kotla by a record 146 runs to seal their berth in the play-offs. The Mumbai outfit has gelled well as a team and fired on all cylinders with bat and ball. The batting unit is explosive upfront with Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel. Skipper Rohit Sharma and young turk Nitish Rana are the lynch pin of the middle order with the Pandya brothers and Keiron Pollard providing impetus with the bat lower down the order.
The seam attack is one of the best in the tournament with the pace troika of Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Johnson and Lasith Mallinga among the wickets. Meanwhile ace off spinner Harbhajan Singh has been exceptional in putting a break on the run flow in the middle overs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have slipped a little in the points table after their defeat to Rising Pune Supergiant in the last match. Hyderabad are still placed in the top four but would be avoid being complacent as Rising Pune Supergiant and Kings Eleven Punjab are also locked in a tight race of qualifying for the playoffs.
Skipper David Warner has led the batting efforts for Hyderabad, leading the run charts in the tournament. His opening counterpart Shikhar Dhawan has also come into good form, contributing significantly with the willow in the past few games.
The middle order looks well settled with Moses Henriques and Yuvraj Singh making handy contributions with the bat. The defending champs have the most balanced bowling outfit in the tournament. Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has led with pace attack with distinction, scalping 21 wickets in the tournament so far. He has been well complimented by old war-horse Ashish Nehra and youngster Siddhart Kaul who has bowled well under pressure. Afghan spinner Rashid Khan has proved his mantle as a leg-spinner, bamboozling batsman with his deceptive googlies.
So it is all set for a gripping encounter between two of the most formidable teams in the IPL targetting a top two finish in the league.
