The two teams met with contrasting fortunes in their opening games
Sunrisers Hyderabad, high on confidence after the emphatic win over Rajasthan Royals in its opener, takes on Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday .
It is obvious that Mumbai faces a daunting task to brush off its narrow defeat to Chennai Super Kings on home turf.
On the other hand, Sunrisers should look to the depth and variety in its bowling attack to counter the might of Mumbai batting which has some big names like openers Rohit Sharma, Evin Lewis, Ishan Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Pandya brothers - Krunal, Hardik - to name a few.
Clearly, the home team should be looking to record another win before it embarks in challenging the other teams in away-games.
It will be interesting to see whether the curator Y.L. Chandrasekhar, named ‘best curator of IPL’ a few times, will offer another sporting wicket as the home team brains-trust of head coach Tom Moody, bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan and mentor V.V.S. Laxman should be naturally keen to see the attack exploits the familiar conditions once again.
The fact that Sunrisers bowlers conceded only 12 fours and no sixes against Rajasthan outfit in the first game is a testimony to their efficacy.
Varied attack
The pace trio of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, Siddarth Kaul can always fall back on the wily spin duo of left-armer Shakib al Hasan and leggie Rashid Khan who have the ability to probe the best of the batsmen with their teasing line and wonderful variations.
And, in batting, if Shikhar Dhawan fires at the top half the job is done for the home team even as his partner Wriddhiman Saha should be in the mood to make amends for his failure in the first game.
With captain Kane Williamson gleefully playing second fiddle to the more aggressive Dhawan during the match-winning, century-stand in the first game, the start to the campaign this season has been near-perfect. Even if the openers fail to get going, the ‘Indian’ middle-order of Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda is equally dangerous on its day.
On the other hand, for Mumbai to stun the opponents, it is imperative for Rohit to rediscover his wonted form for the other big names to take a cue and then look to the bowling attack comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and left-arm pacers Mitchell McClenaghan and Mustafizur Rahman to rise to the occasion in the absence of injured Pat Cummins (ruled out of IPL). All eyes will be on 20-year-old leggie Mayank Markande after his impressive bowling against Chennai.
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