Riding high on their recent form, SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be eager to put up yet another scintillating show in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) when they take on Mumbai Indians (MI) in Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad on Saturday.
Currently holding the top spot in the points table with three back-to-back victories, the confident Sunrisers would not like to spare an inch against MI, lying at sixth place, with two wins and as many losses from four outings.
However, MI will take heart from the fact that they defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and handed them their first loss in four games, in the last match.
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In contrast, SRH, after losing their opening game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), went on to win against Rajasthan Royals (RR), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC).
SRH, in fact, were without the services of their captain Kane Williamson during Thursday's match against Delhi because of an injury, but they did not hamper their performance.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar led from the front as the seamer, along with Mohammad Nabi and Siddarth Kaul, chipped in with two wickets each to restrict Delhi to 129 for eight.
And with opener Bairstow (48) once again shining with the bat, the Sunrisers had a cakewalk, cruising to a five-wicket win.
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Come Saturday, the Sunrisers would again be banking on the English batsmen to deliver the goods, besides Australian David Warner.
The marauding opening pair of Warner and Bairstow have been in imperious form this season, having shared three century-plus stands in four matches.
After a 118-run opening stand against KKR in a losing cause, Warner and Bairstow continued their dominance up the order with 110-run and 185-run partnerships against Rajasthan and Bangalore, respectively.
Among the bowlers, Afghanistan spin duo of Nabi and Rashid Khan, and Bhuvneshwar will be keen to fire in unison to counter the likes of Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard and Pandya brothers (Krunal and Hardik).
Although MI have a deep batting line-up, they are yet to play to their full potential. But having toppled a strong CSK side in their last game, they are expected to get the good work going.
Against CSK, Suryakumar (59) and Krunal (42) enabled the team to reach 170 and then managed to contain them to 133 for eight.
Against SRH, MI batsmen will be hoping to go out all guns blazing, while the bowling unit would rely heavily on experienced Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga and Hardik to bail them out against the duo of Warner and Bairstow.
When and how to watch:
Date: April 6 (Saturday), 2019
Time: 8 PM IST
Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
Tv guide: Star Sports Network
Live streaming: Hotstar
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Probable XI:
SunRisers Hyderabad: Bhuvneshwar Kumar (C), David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammad Nabi.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Mayank Markande, Jason Behrendorff, Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock (WK).
Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (C), David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Shakib Al Hasan, Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, , Martin Guptill, Ricky Bhui, Shreevats Goswami (WK), Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Billy Stanlake.
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Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Rahul Chahar, Ben Cutting, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan(WK), Siddhesh Lad, Evin Lewis, Mayank Markande, Mitchell McClenaghan, Alzarri Joseph, Jason Behrendorff, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Salam, Anmolpreet Singh, Barinder Sran, Aditya Tare (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Quinton de Kock (WK).
(With PTI inputs)
