(Cricket news) Mumbai Indians' trend of losing the first match continued as they lost to Delhi Capitals, on the other hand Rajasthan Royals produced a clinical display against SRH to win their first match. The certain sub plots of Mahela Jayawardene vs Kumar Sangakkara & Lasith Malinga, Rohit Sharma vs Sanju Samson, Kieron Pollard vs Shimron Hetmyer, Jasprit Bumrah vs Trent Boult, M Ashwin vs R Ashwin surely promises to be a mouth-watering one.
Mumbai Indians have always been slow starters as they gradually grow into the tournament and it looks like that the trend is continuing this season as well. Suryakumar Yadav is back and fit again to be back in the playing XI after having missed Mumbai's opening game against DC because of a hairline fracture he suffered during the series against West Indies last month. The key for MI will be to get early wickets if they are to stop their swashbuckling openers from scoring big as Jasprit Bumrah leading the bowling attack can be the kryptonite against this batting line-up. Bumrah has an exceptional record against the two talisman for RR, Jos Buttler averages 12.67 against him with three dismissals, while Samson and Padikkal 24 and 4 respectively with 2 dismissals each. Heading into the match the batting looks very solid for MI but wouldn’t want more from Tim David, who had a below par first game for them as the team management requires him to finish matches for his franchise.
Rajasthan Royals made the perfect start to the season with a huge win over SRH as the Royals have also been Mumbai's bogey team. Since IPL 2018, they have won five of the eight games between the two sides in the last four years but this season their bowling attack ticks all boxes, and their batting line-up boasts of dynamic T20 players as the only concern heading into the match would be the number 7 spot. In the last match, Nathan Coulter Nile was given an opportunity but was taken out of the park by Washington Sundar, if needed then can call upon Jimmy Neesham or Daryl Mitchell to do the job for the team. If RR are going to win then the spinners could hold the key, Ishan Kishan averages just 15 against Chahal, as both the RR spinners, Ashwin and Chahal will be crucial in the middle overs. Kieron Pollard holds an average of just 15 and 16 against them respectively.
Pitch and weather report: In the two matches at the DY Patil, teams chasing have gone on to win just like the trend in this IPL. The trend of winning the toss and opting to chase is likely to continue. However, since it's a day game, dew won't be a factor going into the game. The temperature is going to hover around 35 degrees as there is no chance of rain
Interesting facts:
- Trent Boult has the edge over Rohit Sharma in T20 cricket, getting him out four times in 47 balls for 66 runs
- Hetmyer has struggled against Bumrah in T20s, getting out to him three times in six innings while averaging 4.0 and striking at 92.30
- Samson is to feature in his 200th T20 game
- Ishan Kishan last four IPL innings: 81* vs Capitals, 84 vs Sunrisers, 50* vs Royals, 72* vs Capitals.
- Sanju Samson has won Player of the Match in his second match of a season on four occasions (2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020).
Probable XI for MI:
1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 N Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tim David, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Daniel Sams/Fabian Allen, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Tymal Mills, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Basil Thampi
Probable XI for RR:
1 Jos Buttler, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Nathan Coulter-Nile/Jimmy Neesham, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Also read: Russell and Umesh Yadav star as KKR bounce back with win over PBKS
