Mumbai:Hitting top form despite still-existing discrepancies in their line-up, Mumbai Indians (MI) would face considerable challenge against the table toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) as an important phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL) beckons. MI have pushed the gas button at an opportune moment despite a sluggish start into the tournament -- a replica of their outings in previous editions of the league -- as they have risen to third position in the points table after toppling Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Tuesday.
Overhauling a target of 200 is always a tall order in a T20 game but MI chased it down with three overs to spare, reflects the might of their batting even as the team has constantly gone through shake-ups in their batting order in order to shore up the run-rate.
The batting hitting the top gear is worthy of admiration as it comes in the back of their best batter and skipper Rohit Sharma running into patchy form. MI's batting appears invincible at Wankhede Stadium as the team has chased targets in excess of 200 or above twice in their earlier three attempts. The game against Punjab Kings too had Mumbai's batting written all over it as they were able to come as close as they can at 201-6 while chasing 215.
Even as enlisting a fair share of problems plaguing MI like Rohit's failures, the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer MI also had to cope with ineffective bowling as opposing team were able to score above 200 on four successive occasions with RCB too almost falling short of 200.
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The last three matches has seen oppositions scoring 214/8, 212/7 and 199/6 against MI and GT too would be eyeing to replicate the same and then rely on their powerful bowling to quieten the likes of Suryakumar Yadav in Mumbai's batting. It is notable that MI bowlers did put a halt on RCB's scoring rate in the middle overs but GT have better middle-order batters in their rank, who could accelerate the run-rate at any given point in time.
Suryakumar Yadav's 35-ball 83 and Nehal Wadhera's half-century might have saved the day for MI but chances of a comeback against the team of GT's calibre would be a tough ask as they sit on the top of the table like last year which is a testament to their stable balance between batting and bowling and a conducive environment provided by their coach Ashish Nehra and skipper Hardik Pandya.
The best T20 player in the world as he has been rightly called for the maniacs in the past two years, Suryakumar's return to form is a huge plus for Mumbai Indians whose bulk of scoring has also been done by Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Tim David and Tilak Varma so far. However, Varma's participation in the game is uncertain due to injury.