27 March (Punjab khabarnama) : Both Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim to get their first win on the board when they meet each other on Wednesday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad for their respective second game in IPL 2024. Mumbai, under their new captain Hardik Pandya, had succumbed in the chase against Gujarat Titans last week from a position of win. Sunrisers, on the other hand, had put on a valiant fight in the chase of 209 against Kolkata Knight Riders, riding on a sensational 29-ball 63 from Heinrich Klaasen, before falling short by just 4 runs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
All-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga was expected to be available from the franchise’s second match onward, but he is yet to join SRH. According to ESPNCricinfo, he will remain unavailable for another week owing to his chronic heel pain. This could mean that Pat Cummins will field an unchanged XI for the match against Mumbai. However, they could contemplate over Marco Jansen’s spot, given that he conceded 40 runs in three overs against Kolkata Knight Riders. SRH do have another left-arm fast bowler in their squad in Fazalhaq Farooqi from Afghanistan.
Another concern for SRH is Aiden Markram, who led the franchise’s SA20 side – Eastern Cape – to a title win in January. But his 18 off 13 against KKR, coupled with his poor outing in IPL 2023 leaves him in a precarious spot with the squad also having overseas options in Travis Head and Glenn Phillips.
In terms of Impact Player, they will probably stick to the swap between T Natarajan and Abhishek Sharma.
Batting first XI: Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande
Batting second XI: Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan.
Impact player options: T Natarajan and Abhishek Sharma.
Mumbai Indians: Despite not making a winning start to IPL 2024, Mumbai are unlikely to make any changes in their XI, which means they will stick to their strategy of featuring just three overseas players on their XI. This also implies that the Impact Player swap between Luke Wood and Dewald Brevis is what they will aim for as in the match against Gujarat.
Meanwhile. Suryakumar Yadav will remain unavailable for the match against SRH as well, having missed the opener owing to his recovery from ankle surgery. He will likely be fit for a place in the XI in the second week of April.
The other factor that will be worth looking forward to is Hardik’s batting spot. Batting coach Kieron Pollard had clarified that it was the management’s call to take play him at No. 7 in the batting line-up, contrary to his No. 3 or 4 spot in Gujarat Titans.
Batting first XI: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Tim David, Shams Mulani, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chala, Jasprit Bumrah
Batting second XI: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Tim David, Shams Mulani, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chala, Jasprit Bumrah, Luke Wood.
