Rohit Sharma and David Warner
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss in the 17th game of the ongoing IPL 2020 and has, unsurprisingly, opted to bat first citing it to be their strength. Mumbai Indians will be up against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
"We will bat first. It has been our strength and we will back that. It is a good pitch and the toss doesn't really matter. The game against KKR was also a perfect game. We have seen few games here, you have to believe and trust your instincts when you play in grounds like these. We are playing the same team," said Rohit.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have made two changes to their lineup - injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been replaced with Sandeep Sharma while Siddarth Kaul comes in for Khaleel Ahmed.
"Definitely would have batted as well. Exactly the same what Rohit was saying there the way our team shapes up we are confident in our bowlers to defend. We have seen some high totals here but it also gives a chance to the bowlers to pinch a couple of wickets. I think Bhuvi is a big loss for us. It is about making sure the bowlers are communicating and bowling in partnerships again. We have to do that well here today. I was always confident in those guys (youngsters) for us to was fortunate that they had some time in the middle. It is always challenging for these youngsters to come in with 3-4 overs to go and there are a lot of people criticizing them," said SRH captain David Warner.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Sunrisers Hyderabad have so far won two and lost two matches. They started off the campaign with back-to-back defeats before the return of Kane Williamson saw SRH bouncing back strong with the wins against Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings. Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, too have won two and lost two, one of which ended in a Super Over defeat. They head into the game on the back of a clinical win against Kings XI Punjab.
