Baroda all-rounders can do an encore, says Parthiv Patel as Mumbai Indians take on table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad at Wankhede on Wednesday
Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya
Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, with two successive wins under their belt, will have their tails up when they take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium today. The Rohit Sharma-led outfit will also fancy their chances having pulled off a thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders at home last Sunday.
Though everything is working for the Hyderabad team at the moment, playing in front of the vocal Wankhede crowd can work to MI's advantage. Mumbai brought their derailed campaign — they lost their opening encounter against the Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) on April 9 — back on track with some gutsy performances from their lesser-known players.
Krunal Pandya were the star in MI’s win over KKR last Sunday
First it was Krunal Pandya, who picked up three wickets in an impressive spell of left-arm spin bowling, giving away just 24 runs in his quota of four overs.
Later, man-of-the-match Nitish Rana built on the platform provided by the openers — Parthiv Patel (30) and Jos Buttler (28) — scoring a 29-ball 50 to keep MI in the hunt after they lost five wickets for 119 runs by the 17th over, chasing 179 for victory.
Hardik Pandya were the star in MI’s win over KKR last Sunday
Krunal's younger brother and India player Hardik then took over from where Rana left off and took Mumbai home with one ball to spare. Hardik scored 29 from 11 balls with three fours and two sixes. Watch out for the Pandya brothers to do an encore at the Wankhede today.
On the eve of their match against Sunrisers, MI's wicketkeeper and opening batsman Patel said that they are confident of chasing any kind of target especially after the way Rana and Hardik batted against KKR the other day.
"This is a tournament where a lot of runs have been scored in the last few overs. We knew, if we can take it deep we can always chase anything on this ground. Now, we are confident, especially with the way Hardik (Pandya) and Nitish (Rana) are batting in the nets or even in the last game," said the Gujarat Ranji Trophy-winning captain.
Captains' wishlist
Rohit Sharma: Mumbai Indians
He gets his form back and starts scoring runs
Spinner Harbhajan Singh begins to pick wickets
Pollard proves a point to Manjrekar
David Warner: Sunrisers Hyderabad
In-form Rashid Khan continues to pick wickets
Shikhar Dhawan finds himself among runs
Left-arm bowler Krunal Pandya has a bad day in office
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