Defending champions Mumbai Indians will be looking to get their uneven campaign this year on the right track when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 12th match of the VIVO IPL 2016. The match will be played at the home ground of SRH, the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. The home side, on the other hand, are still on the lookout to open their account in the points table for the league. Although they have suffered a couple of heavy defeats in their two games so far, the Sunrisers will be hoping that today's match can transform their fortunes and send their IPL campaign in the right direction. With a lot at stake for both the teams, today's encounter promises to be a ripper.
Let's take a closer look at the two teams that will be playing today's match: SRH vs MI
Sunrisers Hyderabad
It has been a tough beginning to the 2016 season for the Sunrisers Hyderabad as they have lost both their matches so far to the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively. They conceded 227 runs against a rampaging RCB side and were completely undone by the heroics of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Sarfaraz Khan. With the bat, they started well with skipper David Warner going after the bowlers but lost the plot after his dismissal and suffered a 45-run defeat.
In their next game against KKR, SRH batted first but were reduced to 50 for 4 within the first 10 overs. They staged a good recovery in the last 10 led by England's Eoin Morgan and posted 142 on the board. A target of 143 was never going to be enough to challenge the formidable Kolkata batting line-up and the match ended in another loss for the home side. As a result of this, the Hyderabad team are now placed right at the bottom of the points table
Injuries have been a primary concern for them so far in the tournament. They had already lost Yuvraj Singh for a couple of weeks prior to the start of the 2016 IPL. To add to their worries, ace batsman Kane Williamson and paceman Ashish Nehra have also picked up injuries and are currently out of action. Only Warner and Morgan have shown some form so far with the bat whereas Mustafizur Rahman has been their go-to man in the bowling department.
Mumbai Indians
The defending champions have hit a rocky road in the initial stages of the 2016 IPL; however, it is something that they have gone through even in the best of seasons. Out of the 3 matches that they have played, the Mumbai Indians have managed to win just one and have lost the other two. They played the very first game of this season against the Rising Pune Supergiants and lost by a margin of 9 wickets after being bowled out for 121 in their innings.
Next, they travelled to the Eden Gardens in Kolkata where they faced off against home side KKR. Despite conceding 187 runs while bowling, the batsmen made it up by chasing down the total with 5 balls to spare. Just when it looked like the champions are back in business, they suffered yet another setback as they lost their next game at home against the Gujarat Lions by a narrow margin of 3 wickets to slip to 6th place in the IPL points table.
MI have been facing a number of issues of their own, the biggest being Lasith Malinga exit from the tournament due to an injury. The Sri Lankan pacer has been the most successful bowler in IPL history and losing him is a huge blow for Mumbai. The form of some key players has also been a worry, particularly Kieron Pollard who has hardly scored with the bat and has not bowled at all.
Today’s match Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Today’s Match Time: 20:00 IST, 14:30 GMT
Pitch Report
The pitch for today's match is expected to be a good one for batting. However, there may be a bit of assistance for the pace bowlers, provided they bowl in the right areas.
Weather Conditions for today’s match:
Hyderabad has been battered by the summer over the past few days so the weather is expected to be hot and dry. The conditions, though, may not be as extreme as the previous match between SRH and KKR due to an 8 PM start.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) IPL 2016 Team:
David Warner (c), Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Eoin Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha, Vijay Shankar, Karn Sharma, Barinder Sran, Tirumalasetti Suman, Aditya Tare, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh.
Mumbai Indians (MI) IPL 2016 Team:
Rohit Sharma (c), Corey Anderson, Jasprit Bumrah, Jos Buttler, Unmukt Chand, Marchant de Lange, Shreyas Gopal, Martin Guptill, Harbhajan Singh, Kishore Kamath, Siddhesh Lad, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Parthiv Patel, Kieron Pollard, Deepak Punia, Nitish Rana, Ambati Rayudu, Jitesh Sharma, Nathu Singh, Tim Southee, Jagadeesha Suchith, Vinay Kumar, Akshay Wakhare.
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