Miracle or bust for Mumbai Indians as they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad
With Knight Riders zooming up the NRR chart, the defending champions have been left with almost no chance of making the playoffs
Vishal Dikshit
07-Oct-2021
Big picture
After Kolkata Knight Riders' crushing 86-run win against Rajasthan Royals, the task for defending champions Mumbai Indians to book a playoff berth has become quite improbable. Simply put, they need a miracle. They not only need to win, they need to win big, very big, because of the gap between their net run-rate (-0.048) and Knight Riders' 0.587, which was already at 0.294 before their win against Royals.
For Mumbai Indians, even a repeat of their dominant eight-wicket win against Royals on Tuesday will not be enough. If they bat first on Friday, Mumbai will have to win by 171 runs to displace Knight Riders from the fourth spot. And if Mumbai bowl first, it's pretty much out of the question.
Mumbai's attempt to qualify also comes against a rising Sunrisers outfit, who defended 141 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a way reminiscent of their old template: put up a middling total and back the potent bowling attack to make it prove enough. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is being as economical as ever, Jason Holder is picking up wickets, and Umran Malik is cranking up the pace. They already spoilt Royal Challengers' party by not letting them finish in the top two, and now Sunrisers will want to knock Mumbai Indians out.
In the news
Since Sunrisers are not filled with left-hand batters the way Royals were, Mumbai Indians could bring in legspinner Rahul Chahar in place of offspinner Jayant Yadav.
Likely XIs
Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 James Neesham, 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 9 Rahul Chahar/Jayant Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Trent Boult
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Priyam Garg, 5 Abdul Samad, 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Siddarth Kaul, 11 Umran Malik
Strategy punt
Stats that matter
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo