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The Mumbai Indians (MI) will face the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Stadium in an extremely crucial encounter on Tuesday, May 16. While Mumbai are third in the table with 14 points, a loss to Lucknow will see them slip to fourth, giving other teams the opportunity to overtake them.
Rohit Sharma and Co. have been in fine form as a team, winning four of their last five games. However, the challenge is completely different on a Lucknow pitch where all batting line-ups have struggled. This means that MI's strong batting could struggle on this surface and so they need to plan accordingly.
On that note, let's take a look at three things that the Mumbai Indians have to nail to get the crucial two points on Tuesday, May 16:
#3 Bring in Tilak Varma if fit
While the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Tim David have received all the plaudits for their heroic efforts, there has been a young southpaw in Tilak Varma who has quietly gone about his business and put up yet another impressive IPL season.
In nine games this season, Varma has scored 274 runs at a strike rate of more than 158 and has proved to be a reliable batter for Mumbai in the middle order. However, he has been unavailable for selection in the past three games and there has been a visible hole in the MI batting.
Mumbai struggled on a slow pitch in Chennai and will want Tilak fit to negotiate the spin threat on the Lucknow wicket. His availability will boost Mumbai's chances of returning from Lucknow with a positive result.
#2 Form the right batting order and entry points as per situation
Mumbai Indians have been flexible with their top order this season as their No.3 batters have changed from Cameron Green to Suryakumar Yadav to even captain Rohit Sharma. But they will need to figure out their batting order and get it settled for the conditions in Lucknow.
The pitch at the Ekana Stadium this season has been tricky for batters as the ball has gripped and turned a lot. MI would likely want to let more of their Indian batters face spin and perhaps hold back the likes of Cameron Green and Tim David to take the pacers on at the backend of the innings.
#1 Play the right bowling combination
Mi went with just two spinners in Chennai and that move backfired as the pitch had a bit of help for spin. With Lucknow being an even more conducive pitch to spin, Mumbai should back themselves to play an additional spinner alongside Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya.
Chawla has been sensational this season and Kartikeya has proved to be economical in most of his overs. However, with the number of left-handers in LSG's ranks, the visitors could be tempted to play Hrithik Shokeen too and make it a spin trio. This tactic could prove to be crucial to their chances of winning the game and they could think of dropping the third pacer.
