Hyderabad: These are early days yet in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League and as such, there is still the sense that just about anything is still possible. That includes both the Sunrisers Hyderabad and defending champions Mumbai Indians finding their feet when they play each other in Hyderabad on Monday.
The Sunrisers were brutalised in their first home match on Saturday by Kolkata Knight Riders while Mumbai, playing one of their last matches at home this season, suffered a stinging defeat at the hands of Gujarat Lions.
The hosts are battling injury woes with three of their best players – Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra and Kane Williamson – unavailable due to various injuries. Mumbai have a near full-strength squad but they haven’t done justice to their enormous pool of talent.
And on Monday, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, both sides will be desperate to gather some momentum. The hosts have yet to strike a balance where their approach to matches is concerned. In their opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the bowlers had given away too many runs while the batsmen — led by David Warner — were impressive. Against KKR, however, the batsman failed to turn up, leaving little for the bowlers to do.
Rohit Sharma’s side will be battling possible fatigue as well as injured pride. After recovering from an early batting collapse, they had posted a defendable total against Pune on Saturday. And then, when it seemed like all was lost, Mitch McClenaghan got them back into a winning position with 4 for 21 in the last couple of overs only for Aaron Finch to pinch victory from them.
Then they had to jet out of Mumbai immediately to reach Hyderabad.
That fatigue is something the Sunrisers think tank are likely to factor into their strategy. They desperately need a win to set the ball rolling on their campaign as well as to bring some cheer to the home fans who were left dejected after their abject loss to Knight Riders.
Eoin Morgan and David Warner have half-centuries under their belts while Shikhar Dhawan should be looking to shake off his indifferent form. For Mumbai, Rohit Sharma was brilliant in his 83 not out against KKR but was a dud in the next two matches.
Apart from McClenaghan, no Mumbai bowler has stood out this season. The less said about the hosts’ bowling, the better. The Sunrisers attack has only six wickets from two matches to show for their efforts. Thus, it is a curious situation where neither the batting nor the bowling units of either teams have made their presence felt and Monday presents them with a chance to do just that.
