Sunrisers seek to keep top-four slot from slipping away
Match facts
Sunrisers Hyderabad v Mumbai Indians
Hyderabad, May 8, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Head-to-head
Overall: The two teams have faced off nine times and Mumbai Indians lead the battle 5-4.
This season: Nitish Rana and Krunal Pandya shepherded Mumbai chase in a four-wicket win at the Wankhede.
In the news
Sunrisers, who have lost their previous two games, will go back to being without Ashish Nehra. Team mentor VVS Laxman, confirmed on Saturday that the bowler - who left the field after bowling 1.1 overs on Saturday - is injured. Laxman said the hamstring pull Nehra suffered was not on the same leg he had had operated last year. It will be assessed on Monday. Mohammed Siraj will likely be Nehra's replacement.
For Mumbai Indians, Jos Buttler is set to leave for national duty. Lendl Simmons has made himself the obvious choice in his place. Mumbai will miss Krunal Pandya once more. The allrounder hasn't recovered and is not travelling with the team. Karn Sharma is expected to keep his place.
Qualification scenario
With Kings XI's loss on Sunday, the most they can get to is 16 points. Sunrisers, currently on 13 points, can push past them and into the playoffs if they win both their remaining matches.
Mumbai Indians are through to the playoffs. For a guaranteed top-two finish, Mumbai need to win two of their last three games. If Mumbai win one, their net run rate may still be good enough to get them two goes at the final. If they lose on Monday, Delhi Daredevils will be out of the IPL. But if they win, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rising Pune Supergiant will be through.
The likely XIs
Sunrisers Hyderabad 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Bipul Sharma, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mohammed Siraj, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Siddarth Kaul
Mumbai Indians 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Rohit Sharma (capt), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Karn Sharma, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Strategy punt
Expect Mumbai Indians to give the new ball to Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan has gone at less than six in the Powerplay this, and he has dismissed Warner thrice in the IPL. Malinga has removed Dhawan four times.
Stats that matter
- Mumbai's win-loss ratio of 4.5 is their best in any IPL season.
- Harbhajan Singh has taken only eight wickets in nine games but has an economy of 5.82 this season. He has not gone at an economy of more than 6.75 in any match this season. Harbhajan's economy in the Powerplay (5.12) is the best among all bowlers (minimum four overs).
- Shikhar Dhawan has picked up pace and form as the tournament has progressed. In his first five games, Dhawan scored 135 runs at a strike-rate of 112.50. Over the last six games, Dhawan has hit 253 runs at a strike-rate of 136.02.
- In their last five games, Sunrisers' opening pair of Warner and Dhawan average 75.80 runs for the first wicket. The duo have scored four 50+ partnerships. Two of them have been partnerships of more than a hundred.
- Parthiv Patel has been dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar five times.
- Yuvraj Singh struggles against Harbhajan; he has scored 45 runs off 58 balls against him.