Mumbai Indians will host Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium. (Source: PTI)
In their previous game in the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians proved that blessings can come in disguise. Facing Kings XI Punjab, it came in the form of Rohit Sharma’s injury. The MI skipper was ruled out of the match and Kieron Pollard took over as captain.
Pollard brought his A-game to the match to seal Mumbai’s third straight win. The right-handed batsman smashed 83 runs in just 31 balls as the hosts chased down a mammoth total of 198. When the side steps out to face Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday, it’s very likely that Rohit Sharma will be fit to return to duty.
At a press conference on Friday, bowling coach Zaheer Khan said that the batsman is looking good and the team is confident that Sharma will be up for selection on Saturday. Sharma will be eager to show that he too can be a match-winner for his side, much like the stand-in skipper.
West Indies powerhouse
With Pollard in form, and Sharma returning, MI has a formidable batting attack. The West Indian all-rounder will be confident after his last showing, and can prove to be a match winner against a struggling Rajasthan Royals.
And he isn’t even the only West Indian cricketer who is in fine form. Seamer Alzarri Joseph, who recorded the best-ever bowling figures in IPL against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier this week, will also hog the limelight. Joseph contributed with a cameo 15-run innings against KXIP, and he has already proven to be an asset in his first two games.
For Rajasthan, it was Jofra Archer who showed some fine hitting prowess in the death overs against Chennai Super Kings on Friday. The allrounder was also impressive in bowling, giving away just 20 runs in 4 overs.
Rajasthan’s struggling batting line-up
For Rajasthan, the problem this season has been that its batting line-up is not firing. Under Ajinkya Rahane, who is not the biggest hitters, the Royals have struggled to reach big totals. The likes of Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Archer, Ben Stokes have all struggled to consistently make their mark and take their side to big totals.
Rajasthan were completely strangled by Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this week, and could muster only 139/3 in 20 overs, despite having wickets in hand. On Friday, it took a cameo inning from Shreyas Gopal to take them to a competitive total of 150-plus, but they looked still short by 10-20 odd runs. Facing an in-form Mumbai, the Royals would need their batting lineup to come good—especially if they’re batting first—given Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya and Rohit Sharma, have shown they have the ability to chase down any total they’re set.
Teams (from):
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Alzarri Joseph, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Ankul Roy, Evin Lewis, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ben Cutting, Ishan Kishan (wk), Aditya Tare, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Jayant Yadav
Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Ashton Turner, Ish Sodhi, Oshane Thomas, Liam Livingstone, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Sanju Samson (WK), Shubham Ranjane, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Sudhesan Midhun, Jaydev Unadkat, Prashant Chopra, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Riyan Parag, Dhawal Kulkarni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Varun Aaron, Shashank Singh, Manan Vohra, Rahul Tripathi.
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