Follow UsIt is amazing how much cricket is analysed based on past events. Prior to the tournament, Mumbai Indians were hot favorites, not only to qualify for the playoffs but to win the title. Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, didn’t make it to the top four lists of many.
A prime reason behind these conclusions was the past performance of the two sides in the previous auction cycle. Both these deductions have fallen flat on their face. Eight games in, Mumbai are yet to win a match. Rajasthan, meanwhile, are placed second in the points table. In essence, the two sides have switched lives.
These events have been an eye-opener. The realisation is this: Mumbai and Rajasthan ended up with a similar setup post the mega-auction. Lacking quality all-rounders, both teams had six batters and five bowlers.
What has decided the different routes is the form of key players. Mumbai are going through a torrid phase where Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard and the whole bowling unit is underperforming in unison. On the contrary, Rajasthan are enjoying all their key players in sublime touch. Jos Buttler is the batter of the season by miles. Yuzvendra Chahal has a five-wicket haul, a four-wicket haul, a three-wicket haul, a hat trick, the Purple Cap and whatnot.
This gives an inconsequential look to Match 44 of IPL 2022. Mumbai are out and Rajasthan have almost qualified. Hence, no other team will be affected by the result of this encounter. But there remains the intriguing question that is still unanswered. When will Mumbai break their duck?
The unsolved puzzle of Mumbai’s XI
A lot of Mumbai’s undoing is a result of their confusing playing XIs. From dropping Tim David unceremoniously to playing only two overseas players, they have baffled many.
On a similar note, playing two similar type of left-arm seamers in Daniel Sams and Jaydev Unadkat makes little sense. They have stayed with the tried and failed ploy of four seamers instead of trying two spinners. Most surprisingly, they have left the finisher’s issue unaddressed.
David’s omission has left Kieron Pollard on his own at the back end of the innings. Pollard has himself struggled to exploit the sweet spot on his bat. The Pandya brothers are not there anymore.
Dewald Brevis has shown flashes of brilliance in the top order but with Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav scoring runs, number three is not Mumbai’s most obvious problem. Yet, Brevis has played six matches as compared to David’s two.
It is tough to guess what changes will Mumbai make now as anticipating their XI have been impossible thus far.
The contest
Jos Buttler vs Jasprit Bumrah (55 balls, 49 runs, 4 dismissals)
Mumbai is Buttler’s favorite franchise to bat against in IPL. Among all sides, he has scored the most runs (400), has his highest average (80) and most sixes (25) against Mumbai. Astonishingly, he has done that despite Bumrah’s presence in the opposition’s camp, the pacer who has dismissed him most times in T20 cricket - four.
Notably, three of these four dismissals have come during the death overs with the other in the middle overs phase. However, Mumbai won’t want to wait for that long to see the back of Buttler.
In the powerplay, Bumrah has kept Buttler under control (21 runs in 30 balls) without getting him out. On this occasion, Mumbai will need their star bowler to get past him with the new ball itself.
Enduring an underwhelming season (five wickets in eight matches), dismissing Buttler early could be the perfect healer for Mumbai’s talismanic pacer.
Rohit Sharma vs Trent Boult (47 balls, 66 runs, 4 dismissals)
Another battle to watch out for with the new ball. Mumbai are parched for runs at the top with both openers out of form. Trent Boult is a wicket-taking machine with the new ball. He has dismissed Rohit Sharma four times in T20 cricket. He will fancy hurting his former side where they have suffered the most this season. He has gone wicketless for the last three games but will still hold the upper hand over Rohit.
Probable XIs
Rajasthan Royals
Why change a winning side? Although skipper Sanju Samson mentioned they have made one or two changes every game based on conditions and the opponent, we may see Rajasthan field an unchanged XI.
Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Daryl Mitchell, Riyan Parag, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Kuldeep Sen, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal
Mumbai Indians
With plenty of voids to fill, predicting the changes in Mumbai’s XI is akin to taking a shot in the dark. Murugan Ashwin might come in given Navi Mumbai has aided spinners. With Hrithik Shokeen doing well, it will help Mumbai to tackle Rajasthan’s LHB-RHB compatible top four.
Can we see Mumbai granting rest to either Rohit Sharma or Jasprit Bumrah? Their chances in the tournament are now reduced to negligible and with the amount of international cricket lined up for both, it won’t be surprising.
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Hrithik Shokeen, Daniel Sams, Murugan Ashwin, Riley Meredith, Jasprit Bumrah