Mumbai : A confident Mumbai Indians, who won six consecutive games in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), are all set to take on resurgent Rising Pune Supergiant at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.
Mumbai Indians, who defeated Delhi Daredevils by 14 runs in the cash-rich tournament on Saturday, will be aiming for their seventh straight win – now against Rising Pune Supergiant, who defeated Mumbai in their campaign opener of the league on April 6.
The batting and bowling department clicked well in every game since then, and thus the table-toppers will be in positive state of mind.
Bowlers have been consistent with a bunch of experienced players in their line-up.
On the other hand, Australian Steven Smith-led Pune, who defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in their last encounter, will be fresh and would be raring to for another victory.
Pune team, which has won three matches from six games, will be positive as former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed the signs to returning in form. The Ranchi stumper smashed an unbeaten 61 off 34 balls to steer the side home in the last over.
However, Pune’s bowling attack appears thinner as compared to that of the overall excellence, covering all bases, of their trans-Sahyadri rivals. For Pune, in batting, the struggling Ajinkya Rahane needs to sort out his opening blues and come up with a top-class innings at his traditional home ground for the show-stealers like captain Smith and Dhoni to play with abandon.
To overcome a strong team like Mumbai, Pune will have to put up a strong show with both the bat and the ball. The visitors will be expecting skipper Steve Smith, Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary and Ben Stokes to fire in order to post a good total.
Pune’s bowling, always the weak link, must be confident after a much needed victory against Hyderabad. In this crucial tie, a lot will depend on how veteran South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir performs.–IANS
The Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Jos Buttler, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Asela Gunaratne, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Kulwant Khejroliya, Siddhesh Lad, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Punia, Nitish Rana, Ambati Rayudu, Jitesh Sharma, Karn Sharma, Lendl Simmons, Tim Southee, Jagadeesha Suchith, Saurabh Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar.
Rising Pune Supergiant: Steve Smith (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Ashok Dinda, Faf du Plessis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Daniel Christian, Lockie Ferguson, Imran Tahir, Jaskaran Singh, Usman Khawaja, Saurabh Kumar, Ben Stokes, Washington Sundar, Milind Tandon, Manoj Tiwary, Adam Zampa, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishwar Pandey, Rahul Tripathi, Shardul Thakur.
