Hyderabad: Bolstered by Suryakumar Yadav’s return to form, five-time champions Mumbai Indians will look to continue their winning momentum when they face a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League here on Tuesday.
Both MI and SRH are coming into Tuesday’s match after successive wins. They had started the tournament with identical back-to-back losses.
On Sunday, Suryakumar snapped his wretched run of low scores, which included four ducks, with a quickfire 25-ball 43 as MI chased down 186 with 14 balls to spare for a comfortable five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.
If Suryakumar was sensational, opener Ishan Kishan looked ominous during his 25-ball 58 and the duo will look to produce the fireworks again when they take on the Sunrisers.
MI, who had struggled in the first two games, are now looking a very balanced side with Tilak Verma also in good touch, while the dashing duo of Cameron Green and Tim David too producing the goods when it mattered the most.
In the bowling department, the wily Piyush Chawla has brought all his experience to the fore and, alongwith young Hrithik Shokeen, has formed a formidable spin duo.
However, MI’s pace unit lacks teeth without Jofra Archer, who has been sidelined due to fresh elbow trouble post his appearance in the first match of the season.
In his absence, Riley Meredith has shouldered the responsibility in the last two games that he has played but MI are yet to zero in on a settled pace unit having tried Jason Behrendorff the other day.
Arjun Tendulkar and Duan Jansen too were handed IPL debuts on Sunday and it remains to be seen if MI persist with the duo.
Sunrisers, on the other hand, found new heroes in Harry Brook and Abhishek Tripathi to record two victories in their last two matches.
While Brook finally lived up to the expectations with a 55-ball 100 against KKR, Tripathi had slammed a 48-ball 74 to take the team home against Punjab Kings.
Captain Aiden Markram’s contribution in both the matches has been immense as he held the other end with scores of 50 and 37 in the last two matches.
However, Mayank Agarwal has stuck out like a sore thumb with his lack of runs at the top.
Among the bowlers, spinner Mayank Markande has been SRH’s highest wicket-taker with six wickets, while Umran Malik, Marco Jansen and Bhubneshwar Kumar too have troubled the opposition
Tuesday’s match could also be a clash between twin Jansen brothers — Duan and Marco — if both are picked in their respective team’s playing XI.
