Finalists of the last two years will meet in the IPL on Tuesday when defending champions Mumbai Indians host the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium.
The stakes could not be higher for both sides, especially the Mumbai Indians who have tasted four defeats in the five matches they have played so far.
On the other hand, Kane Williamson’s Sunrisers started the campaign in scintillating fashion as they clinched three impressive wins on the trot.
Since then, it has all gone pear shaped for last year’s runners-up and they find themselves out of the top four after two losses on the bounce.
Both teams were in action respectively on Sunday and will have less than 48 hours to prepare for Tuesday’s encounter.
TALKING POINTS
MUMBAI CAN’T GET OVER THE FINISH LINE
In 2015, the Mumbai Indians had started their campaign with four straight losses before turning it around in dramatic fashion to capture the IPL title. Rohit Sharma’s men averted a fourth straight defeat this year when they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore to spark hopes of another drastic late revival.
However, that 46-run run win has only served as a false dawn as Mumbai’s familiar failings this season came back to haunt them at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on Monday evening.
With a win all but assured, the Mumbai outfit threw the game away with former player K Gowtham returning to haunt them with an outrageous cameo of 33 runs in just 11 balls to consign the defending champions to a humiliating three-wicket defeat.
With all four of their defeats coming in the final over so far this year, the franchise simply seem to be lacking the cutting edge in the mental department which is highly worrying.
SUNRISERS SWEATING ON DHAWAN’S FITNESS
While they seem stacked with quality in the bowling department, the same cannot be said for Hyderabad’s batting which is wearing a thin look after the elbow injury to Shikhar Dhawan in the defeat to Kings XI Punjab.
Having already lost the services of David Warner before the start of the competition, the in-form Dhawan’s absence has robbed Williamson’s men of some explosiveness at the top of the innings
The India man lost the race to get fit in time for the side’s meeting with Chennai Super Kings as Williamson’s side went on to suffer a narrow four-run loss. In the batting paradise that usually is the Wankhede stadium, Sunrisers will desperately be hoping that Dhawan can win the race to fitness this time around.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Mumbai Indians: Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah, Mustafizur Rahman.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul.
