Miracles do happen in sport. In cricket too. Pakistan took home the
1992 World Cup after only one win in their first five matches, and closer home, Kolkata Knight Riders won nine games in a row on their way to a second IPL title
in 2014.
Why talk about that now? Well, Mumbai Indians must win eight of their remaining nine league matches to have a fair chance of making the playoffs, after losing five in a row to begin with.
Mumbai have begun their race against time already, but must start running faster, and fast.
On the other hand, Lucknow Super Giants have such luxury in their ranks that they could afford to not bowl any of
Krunal Pandya,
Marcus Stoinis and
Deepak Hooda against Rajasthan Royals. Such is the richness of their batting order that they could send Stoinis in at No. 8, allowing themselves to have two left-handers at the crease against spin, while keeping their batting order flexible in
strategic battle against Royals. It didn't work out on that occasion, but three wins in five games isn't too shabby.
In a reality that may pinch their opponents, it is Mumbai's ex-enforcer
Quinton de Kock who has been leading the way for Super Giants with the bat, especially in quick knocks of 61 and 80 set the tone for his side's successful run chases against Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals. There have been many other significant contributions. With the bat from Hooda,
KL Rahul and the impressive
Ayush Badoni, and with the ball from
Avesh Khan,
Ravi Bishnoi,
K Gowtham and Pandya. They would back themselves to put the narrow loss against Royals behind quickly.
This tournament has been a lot about the
new and young faces, three of whom feature in this contest: Badoni, Tilak and Brevis. Who knows if one of them will spur their team on to a win - Mumbai, especially, would hope that happens.
Super Giants are unlikely to tweak with their side despite coming off a loss, since that XI provides batting depth as well as multiple allrounders. But Stoinis' batting position could be rejigged.
Lucknow Super Giants: 1 KL Rahul (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Marcus Stoinis, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 K Gowtham, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Ravi Bishnoi
Mumbai Indians: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Dewald Brevis, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Tymal Mills/Tim David, 8 Jaydev Unadkat, 9 Mayank Markande/M Ashwin, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Basil Thampi/Fabian Allen
And although Bishnoi is yet to get Pollard, the explosive batter goes even quieter against him with a strike rate of 79. Thus, with Rohit, Kishan and Suryakumar forming Mumbai's top three, Super Giants can employ Bishnoi in the powerplay, aside from using him against Pollard at the death.
Since 2018, Rahul has the most runs in the IPL - 2680 at an average of 53.6. Just like this year, Mumbai had also lost five matches to start the 2014 IPL. But they won seven out of the next nine and made the playoffs, where they lost the Eliminator to Super Kings. However, IPL was an eight-team tournament at the time. The No. 3 position hasn't yielded Super Giants the results yet. In five innings this season, that spot has given them only 21 runs at a strike rate of 62, both by far the lowest among all sides.