Placed fifth in the eight-team standings with 12 points, SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) are just a win away from securing a playoff berth and they will need to dish out something special when they face a rampaging Mumbai Indians (MI) in the last league match of the Indian Premier League here on Tuesday.
With 18 points, defending champions MI have ticked all the boxes so far and stopping their juggernaut will definitely be a herculean task for David Warner’s team.
SunRisers Hyderabad must have drawn confidence from their consecutive two wins against Delhi and Bangalore. However, the challenge on Tuesday could possibly be a different once.
Warner, Wriddhiman Saha, Manish Pandey, and Kane Williamson, SRH boast a solid top-order, and they have a power-hitter in the middle-order in the form of all-rounder Jason Holder, who has been pretty decent in both departments of the game — batting and bowling.
In bowling, pacers Sandeep Sharma and T Natarajan have also regained their confidence while ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan continues to be their go-to man.
On the other hand, MI have the most balanced side in the league. Batting mainstay Ishan Kishan and all-rounder Keiron Pollard have filled the void in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who is injured.
While Kishan, the Jharkhand stumper-batsman, has provided flying starts at the top, Pollard has led the team quite well in Rohit’s absence.
Opener Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav are the other in-form batters while Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Pollard form a solid lower middle-order.
Speedsters Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult will once again look to trouble the SRH batters with their lethal pace while Rahul Chahar, Krunal and Pollard would be keen to provide additional support to them.
The last time the two sides clashed, MI had registered a 34-run win and the four-time champions will look to dent Hyderabad’s chances.
On the other side, SRH will look to garner a much-needed win as only it could push them through.