"If you don't dent his confidence now, you will repent when the T20 WC comes" - Aakash Chopra picks Travis Head among SRH players in focus vs MI

Ahead of the SunRisers Hyderabad's (SRH) IPL 2024 clash against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in Mumbai on Monday (May 6), Aakash Chopra has noted that the Indian bowlers would want to formulate a plan to dismiss Travis Head heading into next month's T20 World Cup.

With 12 points from 10 games, SRH are placed fourth on the points table. A win against MI will help them leapfrog the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) into third position and improve their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked Head as the first SRH player in focus in Monday's game. He urged the MI bowlers to bombard him with bouncers.

"Let's go with Travis Head. You will have Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara or Gerald Coetzee in front of him. It will be a good contest. It will be worth seeing how Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma play together. I am still saying you should bowl bouncers if you see Travis Head. If you don't dent his confidence now, you will repent when the T20 World Cup comes," he reasoned (9:50).

"We have already repented a lot at the world events. Travis Head has hit us a lot. So please try to figure out a way to get him out. From Hyderabad's point of view, if Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma fire, they reach close to 100 in six overs and this will be that sort of pitch as well," the former India opener added.

With 396 runs at a strike rate of 194.11 in nine innings, Head is SRH's highest run-scorer in IPL 2024. The Australian left-handed batter smashed match-winning centuries in last year's World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals against India.

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"You will have to go towards him because he is that sort of player" - Aakash Chopra on SRH's Heinrich Klaasen

Heinrich Klaasen has smoked 31 sixes in IPL 2024. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra chose Heinrich Klaasen as the second SunRisers Hyderabad player to watch out for against the Mumbai Indians.

"After that, Heinrich Klaasen, without doubt. You will have to go towards him because he is that sort of player. When you see the small ground, Piyush Chawla will be the only threat in the opposition. The rest of the spin will not be that attacking or effective," he explained (10:35).

"You will definitely use (Jasprit) Bumrah as a match-up but Heinrich Klaasen scored a 19-ball 42 in the last match he played and hit a lot of sixes in the 277-run match. So Heinrich Klaasen is my second guy," the renowned commentator added.

Chopra picked SRH skipper Pat Cummins as the crucial bowler for the visitors.

"The third is Pat Cummins. The Mumbai crowd is very partisan, there is deafening noise, but he keeps coming and saying that he enjoys silencing the crowd. Pat Cummins, small ground, let's see how he bowls. So Pat Cummins the captain and Pat Cummins the bowler," he elaborated.

With 12 scalps in 10 games, Cummins is SRH's second-highest wicket-taker in IPL 2024. Only T Natarajan (15) has taken more wickets for the franchise this season.