TACTICAL PREVIEW
Follow UsSunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians take on each other in the 25th game of the season. In their previous encounter, Harry Brook’s maiden IPL ton helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post a formidable 228 to bat the opposition out of the game.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, chased down 185 to register their first home win of the season. What made it more memorable was the fact that there were contributions from multiple players.
Things to watch out for
Should Abhishek open?
Abhishek Sharma had a breakout IPL season in 2022, scoring 426 runs at an average of 30 and a strike rate of 130. Surprisingly, to accommodate Brook at the top, they slotted Abhishek out of position this season. In their previous game, he showed his adaptability when he scored 32 off 17 after coming in at #5.
However, Mayank Agarwal’s lack of form will be a cause for concern for the Sunrisers. They can instead replace Mayank with Abhishek at the top, and bring someone like Samarth Vyas into the team. While batting at #3 for Saurashtra in SMAT, Vyas scored more than 600 runs at an average in excess of 30 and a strike rate above 150. His red hot form could be an antidote to SRH’s struggles at the top.
MI openers doing well this season
Last season, MI’s batters were one of the slowest in the powerplay. A lot of it had to do with their openers’, Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma, indifferent form. This time around, they have been a lot more proactive. Ishan’s form against pace, in particular, has proven to be a shot in the arm for Rohit’s men.
What about Washington Sundar?
Since his move to SRH in 2022, Sundar's bowling form has seen a steep decline. He conceded runs at 8.54 RPO, and took a wicket only every 28 balls. In IPL 2023, he has conceded runs at 9.86 RPO and is yet to take a wicket.
Despite showing glimpses of his potential, he’s yet to come good with the bat in IPL. An average of 13.9 and a strike rate of 112.8 across five seasons shows how badly he has underperformed.
Ground Details
The wicket in Hyderabad is known to be conducive for stroke play, with an average score around the 180-run mark. The dimensions of the ground are on the shorter side, resulting in the venue seeing a number of boundaries and sixes being hit.
Overall in T20s since 2019, the average winning score batting first is 197 runs. The wicket stayed true to its nature in the first home game of the season against the Rajasthan Royals, where the flamboyant top order powered the visiting side to 203 runs in the first innings. However, the second game at Hyderabad saw pacers wreak havoc with the new ball. They took a wicket every 16 balls, and conceded runs only at 6.3 RPO.
The surface will assist the seamers with the new ball, as in the 11 T20 matches since 2019, the fast bowlers have scalped 75 wickets out of 123, with three to four wickets on average every innings.
Tactical Nous
> Hyderabad batters have been very circumspect while playing spin this season. They have the third best balls/dismissal while playing spin, but have the poorest run rate. Meanwhile, Piyush Chawla has been in very good form for the Mumbai Indians, and will look to exploit this flaw.
> With the new ball, left arm pacers have troubled Rohit Sharma a fair bit. In fact, he strikes only 110.2 against this bowling type. It will be on Ishan Kishan to take most of the strike against Jansen.
Probable XIs
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan (WK), Rohit Sharma (C), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Riley Meredith, Arjun Tendulkar
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (C), Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Marco Jansen, Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan
