Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be facing Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday with both the teams looking to get off the mark in the points tally of this edition of the Indian Premier League. (Where To Watch | Preview)
Helmed by two new captains, both SRH and MI lost their opening matches from positions of strength. SRH needed seven off five balls against Kolkata Knight Riders in the last over of the match before falling short, while MI were mostly in control in their encounter against Gujarat Titans before they lost the plot in the final few overs of the game.
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Hardik Pandya and Pat Cummins will have plenty to prove when the duo leads their teams on the ground on Wednesday. Here are some key battles that will decide the course of the game.
Heinrich Klaasen Vs Jasprit Bumrah
What happens when an immovable force meets an unstoppable object?
We will get to know tomorrow when Jasprit Bumrah will take up the duties of stopping a rampaging Heinrich Klaasen. The South African wicket-keeper batter is among the most dangerous hitters in the world right now and his battle with the MI pace spearhead is set to be a mouth-watering contest for everyone.
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Both these players have warmed up for this game with excellent first outings in the season. Klaasen smashed a 29-ball 66 against KKR to put his team on a cusp of win while Bumrah took 3 wickets for just 14 in his spell against GT to stop the runners up to a below par first inning score.
Hardik Pandya Vs Pat Cummins
The battle of skippers is going to be a hard one. After dismal returns at the death from SRH bowlers in their opening match, Cummins might be forced to take up the responsibilities of closing innings with the ball. He will meet Hardik Pandya who looked in sublime touch in the few balls he faced in MI's loss to Titans. Keeping Hardik quiet will be a tough task for Cummins but the Australian has the skills to upset the MI skipper.
Rohit Sharma Vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Despite his troubles at the death, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's powerplay bowling is still going strong. Rohit Sharma on the other hand looked determined to finally have an impressive IPL campaign when he batted against GT. The former Mumbai Indians' skipper will have to deal with the swing of Kumar if he wants to continue on his good batting form.
The veteran pacer needs to have a good outing upfront to give SRH the best chance to stop a deep MI batting lineup.
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Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan, Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood, Suryakumar Yadav.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (c), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.
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Match starts 7.30PM IST.
