MI’s prospects of making the playoffs have drastically decreased after two losses in their previous two games; if they lose on Tuesday, they would share the same fate as Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Despite lacking much in the way of spin, MI appeared to be one of the strongest teams before to the season. That hasn’t translated into performances however, and their overseas fast bowlers’ troubles are a major factor in that.
Even before the competition began, injuries had already ruled out Dilshan Madushanka and Jason Behrendorff. Luke Wood and Kwena Maphaka, who were supposed to replace them, fell short of the expectations. In the two games he has played, Nuwan Thushara has gone for 12 an over with no wickets to his name. In addition to being hot and cold, Gerald Coetzee has amassed 12 wickets in eight games with an economy of 10.10. After all of that, Jasprit Bumrah has too much work ahead of her.
Even though LSG just suffered a loss, they now have a far superior standing in the standings. They may potentially move up to second place with a victory over MI. They will benefit from playing at home as well as Mayank Yadav’s comeback, who has cleared all of his fitness tests.
Super Giants of Lucknow
Mayank could need to move ahead of Matt Henry. This will also enable LSG to substitute Ashton Turner for Devdutt Padikkal, who is currently out of form.
Whichever of Ayush Badoni and Yash Thakur is bowling or batting first, that player might be the Impact Player for LSG.
Probable XII 1 Quinton de Kock, 2 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 3 Marcus Stoinis, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Mayank Yadav, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Mohsin Khan, 12 Yash Thakur
Mumbai Indians
MI can consider bringing in Kumar Kartikeya for Luke Wood, especially if the pitch is on the slower side. Suryakumar Yadav (if bowling first) and Nuwan Thushara (if batting first) could be their Impact Player options.
Probable XII 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Nehal Wadhera, 7 Tim David, 8 Mohammad Nabi, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Kumar Kartikeya/Luke Wood, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Nuwan Thushara
IPL 2024 got off to a great start for Quinton de Kock, who scored two fifty in the first three matches. However, he has not been consistent thereafter, only reaching 20 once in six innings. LSG needs de Kock to return to form quickly since they haven’t been able to score easily in the powerplay (their run rate of 8.38 is the second-worst in that phase this season).
When Suryakumar Yadav returned from his injury, MI was expected to turn things around. Although his current strike rate of 171.13 and innings played of 166 are not terrible numbers, they are around 10 lower than they were in the previous season. Only 36 runs, including two ducks, have been scored in the next four innings despite his two 50-plus score. In MI’s struggle for survival, Suryakumar will be crucial.
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