Visakhapatnam: Refreshed and relaxed after a week’s break, a formidable Mumbai Indians will be raring to go when they take on a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad in a league tie of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Sunday. As the port city gears up to host the second match of the weekend double header, Mumbai would hope to continue their winning spree at their new home ground — the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. The Bombay High Court ordered to shift IPL matches to be held in Maharashtra from May 1 due to drought conditions in the western state.
On a roll after three consecutive wins against Punjab, Kolkata and Pune respectively, Sunday’s match will be a test between the top class Mumbai batting line-up led by Rohit Sharma and the medium pace bowling troika of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur Rahman. On the other hand, Hyderabad will take heart from Friday’s comprehensive win against Gujarat Lions in Hyderabad and would want their skipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan to give a brilliant start at the top of the order.
Both Hyderabad and Mumbai are positioned midway in the points table with 10 points each, having won five matches out of eight and nine respectively. In their earlier meeting, Sunrisers registered a seven-wicket win with 15 balls to spare at their home ground. Going into Sunday’s clash, the Mumbai franchise would bank on a good start from the opening combo of Rohit and Parthiv Patel, which has eluded the side so far. Both Rohit and Parthiv have performed individually with the willow but failed to give a decent opening stand together.
The side also boasts of big-hitters in Ambati Rayudu, Keiron Pollard and Jos Buttler, who can tear apart any bowling attack on their day, along with the all-round duo of Hardik and Kruna Pandya. Mumbai’s bowling department is led by New Zealand’s left-arm seamer Mitchell McClenaghan, who has 13 wickets so far to be placed second in the top-wicket takers’ list while Jasprit Bumrah and Tim Southee with 11 and 7 wickets respectively form a lethal combo.
Seasoned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh with five wickets forms the spin department with Krunal, who has three wickets so far. On the flip side, Hyderabad’s batting will centre around Warner and Dhawan with Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and comeback man Yuvraj Singh adding more firepower in the middle. The side would heavily bank on its star bowling trio of Bhuvneshwar, Nehra and Mustafizur, who made light work of the Gujrat side on Friday.
Bhuvneshwar has so far taken 12 wickets while Mustafizur isn’t so far with 10 scalps and Barinder Sran is an added advantage for the Orange army with six wickets in the tournament. The spin department of Karn Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Deepak Hooda and Bipul Sharma, however, still needs improvement when it takes on a top class batting line-up like Mumbai.
