Mumbai faces tough Gujarat challenge

MUMBAI: An upbeat Mumbai Indians is likely to be tested to the hilt by table-topper and defending champion Gujarat Titans in a vital Indian Premier League match here on Friday.

While it was not at its best with the ball, five-time winner MI looked promising during the six-wicket thumping of Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday. The manner in which Mumbai thrashed RCB – chasing 200 in just 17 overs – highlighted how successful its batting unit has been.

Suryakumar Yadav’s scintillating 83 and Nehal Wadhera’s second fifty of the season handed MI a commanding win over RCB. Heading into the match high on confidence, Mumbai (12 points from 11 matches) would know that it cannot afford any slip up against the mighty GT (16 points from 11 matches), which is sitting pretty at the top, largely unchallenged.

Despite captain Rohit Sharma’s lean patch – he failed to get to double-digits in each of his last five innings – MI’s batting has been nearly unstoppable here. The contest’s end result could depend a lot on how the free-flowing MI batters go against eight overs of spin from Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad, who has thrived in the company of the former.

The bigger issue for MI has been the form of its bowling pack, which conceded a total of 200 or above on four consecutive occasions and nearly did so against Royal Challengers.

In the last three matches here, opposition sides accumulated 214/8, 212/7 and 199/6, making the most of a flat pitch and perfect batting conditions, something that GT would also like.

The opening pair of Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha pose a lot of threat, and GT has a long list of batters who can up the ante. Skipper Hardik Pandya and David Miller are firing while Rahul Tewatia’s presence adds more woes for the opposition.

With the Wankhede surface being a haven for batters, GT would draw inspiration from its last meeting with MI earlier this season. While recording a 55-run win, GT had piled up 207/6 and restricted MI to a paltry 152/9.