MI, SRH to fight their own demons along with those of Chepauk

The two sides - Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad - played one after the other, on consecutive days, at the same venue but enduring different results. 

MI registered a come-from-behind victory against Kolkata to get off the mark on the points table. In a complete contrast, SRH floundered the opportunity to do the same. Both the matches were turned in the last five overs.

The last five overs in Chennai have been the Achilles Heel for batsmen, especially when you compare it to the other venue hosting games in the first leg - Mumbai. 

MI have definitely missed their home ground in Mumbai where run-scoring is rather easy at the back end. Their ability to finish off in style with Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard taking the centrestage has taken the game out of the grasp of many opponents. However, the same has not worked so far this season. They have conceded five-wicket hauls in back to back games, predominantly at the death, scoring only 31 for six and 38 for seven.  

Apart from the sluggish pitch at Chepauk, the opponent bowlers have also come pre-prepared to tackle the might of Hardik and Pollard. The pacers have gone away from the full length deliveries which would allow the two to spread their arms. 

Mumbai can ponder sending Pollard a touch earlier, giving him more balls before expecting him to unleash himself. 

For SRH, the death overs, have been a perennial problem. They have consistently been the worst side with the bat in the deciding phase ever since the teams were reset in 2018. A lot of it has to do with over-reliance on David Warner who has scored 25.7 percent of his team’s runs since 2019 (he was not there in 2018). 

The old ghost has haunted them twice this season already and they desperately need to rectify their lower-order to register their first win ever at Chepauk and of the season. 

Contrasting number 3s

Number three batsmen in any format are the heartbeat of a side. While Suryakumar Yadav clearly has been the best batsman in MI’s team, his counterpart, Manish Pandey has struggled to get going. In both games, Pandey got to the death overs without causing the impact one would expect from an experienced number 3 batsman who has played a fair amount of international cricket. 

Pandey has got more runs but the strike-rate has been abysmal to say the least. SRH have lost 11 out of 15 times when Pandey has scored in excess of 30 runs - a telling stat regarding his inefficiency to win games. Surya, on the other hand, has boosted MI’s run-rate in the middle-overs phase. 

A missing piece in the bowling jigsaw 

Both sides are missing a piece in their bowling armory. MI haven’t got the desired result from Marco Jansen. That seems to be the only reason behind Rohit Sharma stepping in to complete his quota, bowling in IPL after seven seasons. Hardik not bowling this season is another minor issue in their camp. 

The cause of worry is bigger in SRH’s camp. While MI need to resolve their support cast in the bowling department, with SRH, there is a slight problem with their lead. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is yet to show up for them, not physically but mentally with his skills. Only two wickets in two games don’t do justice to his skills. Add to his economy rate of 9.4 despite playing both games in Chennai, there is a lot to be desired from Bhuvi after the kind of impact he laid in the T20Is against England. 

Probable XIs

Marco Jansen seems out of the picture for MI unless there is a better explanation for Rohit completing his overs, ie any sort of injury. There lies options in Adam Milne and Nathan Coulter-Nile. 

SRH would wonder if they can continue with Wriddhiman Saha as Warner’s opening partner, a move which paid rich dividends last year. However, they need overseas reinforcement in the middle which means their batting may carry the same outlook. 

Considering three left-handers in MI’s line-up, SRH can ponder playing their only ‘off-spinner’ and an experienced middle-order batsman in Kedar Jadhav.

MI - Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Adam Milne, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult

SRH - David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Jonny Bairstow, Vijay Shankar/Kedar Jadhav, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, T Natarajan