Two stalwarts of Indian cricket — Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant — will be hoping to overcome their lean patch when Mumbai Indians face Lucknow Super Giants in a clash between two struggling teams in the Indian Premier League in Lucknow on Friday. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have not really clicked so far this season, with just two points from three games. India captain Rohit’s form with the bat has put the MI team management in a tight spot. The same is for LSG skipper Pant whose extended dry run is not helping matters for the home side.
With both the teams almost identically placed with a solitary win each in three games, the contest could boil down to who exploits the conditions better on the day.
Given that the curators haven’t been providing tailor-made pitches to the home sides — something that has caused frustration of the coaches and players in some franchises — the team that gets a head-start with the bat or ball in the power play overs could call the shots.
The prolonged absence of MI pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah due to injury and the management maintaining a stoic silence on his return is only adding to the frustration of the Hardik Pandya-led side.
MI, though, found success in the handy pace of young left-armer Ashwani Kumar, who single-handedly demolished defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders with excellent figures of 4/24 in three overs in their win at home on March 31.
It would be premature to pass a judgement about his pedigree but in the 23-year-old Punjab pacer, MI have got a glimmer of hope. Making his IPL debut for MI after playing only four T20 matches on the domestic circuit, he dismissed established names like Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell to become the first Indian to take four wickets on IPL debut.
IPL has, time and again, given a platform for young players to excel but few have been able to do that consistently. Mayank Yadav, after bedazzling everyone with his searing pace, just faded away. MI would be hoping Ashwani is not a one-match wonder.
With MI finally giving a commanding performance against KKR at the Wankhede, it was South African keeper-batter Ryan Rickelton, who guided them to victory in the chase of a sub-par total. Rohit and ‘Mr 360 degrees’ Suryakumar Yadav will have big roles to play in a side that doesn’t really bat deep but has an array of slow and fast bowlers who can deliver.
Lucknow Super Giants, placed sixth behind MI, have not really hit their strides following their demoralising one-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals in the IPL opener at Visakhapatnam.
While West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran has been in sublime form and is leading the scoring charts with 189 runs from three games, including two half-centuries, his exploits have not rubbed off on other LSG batters, except Australian Mitchell Marsh, who too has two half-tons so far in this edition.
Much of their woes are due to their bowling, led by Shardul Thakur and Ravi Bishnoi, and the poor form of their charismatic captain Pant with the bat.
After not being in the playing eleven during India’s Champions Trophy campaign, with KL Rahul wielding the big gloves, Pant’s form would be a cause for concern in the busy season ahead.
With scores of 0, 15 and 2 in the three games so far, the LSG skipper is clearly struggling. But one innings can change all that.
The Teams (From): Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Akash Singh, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Himmat Singh, Shamar Joseph, Aryan Juyal, Arshin Kulkarni, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Manimaran Siddharth, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Yadav.
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Bevon Jacobs, Robin Minz, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naman Dhir, Vignesh Puthur, Satyanarayana Raju, Ryan Rickelton, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Krishnan Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar, Tilak Varma, Reece Topley, Suryakumar Yadav.
Match starts at 7:30 pm.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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