The Mumbai Indians and the Sunrisers Hyderabad will face off in the 37th match of the VIVO IPL 2016 on Sunday. It will be the first match this year at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ADA-VDCA Stadium in Vishakapatnam. Although the stadium is not located in MI’s home state, it will serve as a second home ground for them. The Sunrisers have been the most improved team in the 2016 IPL as they recovered from a poor start to be placed 4th in the points table. Although the Mumbai team is just one position below their opponents for Sunday’s match, they have comparatively been far more inconsistent.
While the batting has fired for SRH this year, it is the bowlers who have been the driving force behind their dominant run in their past few matches. The pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman has particularly been working wonders for them. After a few dismal seasons ever since they joined the IPL bandwagon, the Sunrisers Hyderabad are finally strting to find their footing among the giants of the league.
The defending champions, Mumbai Indians, had started off their campaign this year on a pretty dismal note but they have fought hard and managed to get back to winning ways. The Mumbai batsmen have performed reasonably well so far; however, it is the pace bowling pair of Mitchell McCleanaghan and Jasprit Bumrah which has given the team a much-needed boost in the past few games.
Both the teams will be looking to outwit each other in order to earn some crucial points to push themselves towards the brink of qualifying for the playoffs. As such, it is an encounter that the fans can really look forward to.
Venue: Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ADA-VDCA Stadium, Vishakapatnam
Match date: 8 May 2016
Match timings: 16:00 IST, 10:30 GMT
If Mumbai Indians bat first
Predicted score: 165 and above
Skipper Rohit Sharma has led the way for the Mumbai team in the batting department, scoring 383 runs in 9 innings at a terrific average of just under 64. He has received some great support from Ambati Rayudu, who has a tally of 271 runs in the 2016 IPL with 2 half-centuries to show for his efforts. Parthiv Patel has been decent at the top of the order but he has not made enough impact apart from his solid 81 against Kings XI Punjab.
All-rounder Krunal Pandya has been the real surprise package for the Mumbai Indians with some quickfire knocks in the middle order. Kieron Pollard has also shown glimpses of his old form and has already played a couple of blistering innings in the tournament so far. MI’s new recruit Jos Buttler has not done a bad job either but he has slowed down as the 2016 IPL has progressed.
As far as their bowling is concerned, Mumbai Indians have a couple of star performers in the form of pacemen McCleanaghan and Bumrah. The duo shares 24 wickets in the 9th edition of the IPL and has produced quite a few good performances for MI. They have been supported well by Tim Southee, who has claimed 7 wickets thus far. The Pandya brothers have picked up 3 wickets each this season but Krunal has clearly bowled better than Hardik, who has been way too expensive.
The concern for Mumbai this year has been the poor form of ace spinner Harbhajan Singh. The offie has taken just 5 wickets and has given away his runs at an economy of over 8. None of the other spinners in the squad have received much opportunity to play in the tournament.
It is quite difficult to foresee the Mumbai Indians make any changes to the team which had conquered the Rising Pune Supergiants in their last game.
If Sunrisers Hyderabad bat first
Predicted score: 160 and above
Like most of the other good teams in this year’s IPL, the Sunrisers Hyderabad have also been top-heavy in terms of their batting. Skipper David Warner has been the leader of the pack with more than 400 runs at an average of over 68. His opening partner, Shikhar Dhawan has also shown good form as he has scored 228 runs at a pretty good average of slightly under 46.
Apart from the top two, though, only Eoin Morgan has scored more than 100 runs in the season. One of the world’s top batsmen, Kane Williamson, had a successful start to the season after returning from an injury with a fifty in his first match. Yuvraj Singh, on the other hand, failed to impress on his Sunrisers debut and was dismissed for an individual score of 5.
The SRH middle order will need to put in more effort to provide adequate support to the top order batsmen who have done bulk of the scoring so far. All-rounders like Deepak Hooda and Moises Henriques have been struggling for runs but they will need to repay the faith put on them by the team management before it is too late.
The bowlers have been the real stars for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has 12 wickets this season, and Mustafizur Rahman, who has claimed 10. The latter has impressed everyone with his superb variations which have made him the most difficult bowler to face for most teams. Bhuvi, on the other hand, seems to have found his mojo once again.
Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra may not have picked too many wickets but he has been a mentor to the younger pacers in the team and they have thrived under his guidance. Young Barinder Sran has provided excellent backup to the two prominent pacers and has 6 wickets to show for his efforts.
The spinners have not had much of a role to play in the SRH scheme of things and the ones who have bowled haven’t done too well either. However, the Sunrisers may need them at some stage in the tournament and it will be interesting to see if the tweakers can step up to the task.
The Hyderabad team may stick to the same team which won in their previous match against the Gujarat Lions.
Probable Winners: Mumbai Indians
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