Having led Mumbai Indians to an opening defeat against Gujarat Titans recently amidst severe booing, new captain Hardik will be keen to prove his mettle in season’s second outing against Sunrisers Hyderabad today
MI skipper Hardik Pandya. Pic/Mumbai Indians
After the script went horribly wrong for Hardik Pandya on Sunday at Ahmedabad, the new Mumbai Indians skipper would like to make amends in their second match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday. His leadership skills came under a lot of scrutiny in the first match. The Indian all-rounder’s decision to switch to MI from Gujarat Titans was least welcomed by the hostile Narendra Modi Stadium crowd. He was booed before the night ended in a six-run loss for MI. To add to his woes, Pandya failed with bat and ball.
The 30-year-old would be hoping to come up with a more purposeful show. Both SRH and MI made false starts in their opening encounters at Kolkata and Ahmedabad respectively.
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Rohit will be key
Interestingly, the crowd cheered for India skipper Rohit Sharma, who was removed from MI captaincy this season. A few eyebrows were raised when Pandya repeatedly altered the fielding position of Rohit in the deep. The MI skipper faces a litmus test against SRH. He is aware of it and being a seasoned campaigner, he will look to be more positive in Wednesday’s match. He will bank on Rohit, who hit a pleasing 29-ball 43 against the Titans. Ishan Kishan, who was in the news for the wrong reasons during the home Test series against England, went for a duck. The flamboyant left-hander needs to be among runs after his fallout with the national selectors. For exciting left-hander Tilak Varma, it is a homecoming. The Hyderabad Ranji skipper, who hosted a dinner for his teammates on Monday, impressed with his attacking style of batting last season and would surely like to make a big mark in front of his home crowd.
MI opener Rohit Sharma during his 43 against GT in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Pic/AFP
Dewald Brevis was MI’s top scorer against GT. The 20-year-old South African had MI in the hunt before he fell for 46. The reliable big-hitting Tim David fell cheaply, much to the chagrin of MI.
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The ebullient Jasprit Bumrah continued his fine run. His first wicket, to dismiss Wriddhiman Saha with a yorker, spoke of his class. He returned amazing figures of 4-0-14-3 against the Titans. It will be an interesting duel between the Smiling Assassin and the dangerous South African Heinrich Klassen, who hit a blazing 29-ball 63 for SRH against Kolkata Knight Riders. Other batters like Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma (impact player) and Rahul Tripathi had reasonable outings.
SRH’s bowling, a concern
However, it is the bowling that could be a worry for the Pat Cummins-led SRH team, particularly the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The former India swing bowler gave away only eight runs in his first two overs but Andre Russell toyed with him in the death overs. From 119 for 6, KKR galloped away to a massive 208. Left-arm seamer T Natarajan (3-32), though, was the best bowler for SRH and even kept his nerves in his second spell when Russell went berserk.
Cummins, the second most expensive player after Mitchell Starc this season, plays his first match for SRH at home. He would surely like to have a winning start as captain, since SRH recorded only one win at home last season.
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