It will indeed be a battle of equals when both teams look to carry their winning momentum forward.
Having conquered Delhi in their own backyard, a high on confidence Sunrisers Hyderabad will now take on Mumbai Indians in the second header on Saturday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Mumbai too will be wearing a confident look after beating defending champions Chennai Super Kings in their last encounter.
It will indeed be a battle of equals when both teams look to carry their winning momentum forward. While SRH have looked the most balanced unit in the competition so far, everyone knows that MI can turn any game upside down on their day. It will come down to both teams looking to do the basics right.
The support of the Orange Army will definitely augur well for Hyderabad and the kind of form the openers have shown - Jonny Bairstow and David Warner - means that the Mumbai bowlers will have their task cut out. But the MI bowling too has shown sparks and Jason Behrendorff showed what he is capable of when he derailed the CSK batting right at the top in the last encounter.
But MI will definitely miss the services of Lasith Malinga as the Sri Lankan has flown back to play domestic cricket in an effort to be eligible for selection for the World Cup squad. All-rounder Hardik Pandya's return to form augurs well for the visitors as they will look at him to not only finish the innings on a high but also pick crucial wickets in the middle of the innings.
What to expect?
When it comes to the bowling, SRH have one of the best attacks in the tournament. While stand-in skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar returning to form against Delhi Capitals on Thursday was a welcome sight, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi have already shown what they are capable of on Indian tracks which have all taken a turn.
With the Uppal wicket likely to be a sporting one, it will definitely be a battle of equals on Saturday as SRH and MI both look to bag two points from the game.
Probable XIs:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Jason Behrendorff, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan
(With IANS inputs)
