Back in the groove after two consecutive wins, defending champions Mumbai Indians will start as firm favourites against bottom-placed SunRisers Hyderabad in the IPL match in Delhi on Tuesday.
Mumbai will enter the game after their four-wicket win over in-form Chennai Super Kings courtesy Kieron Pollard's blitzkrieg.
SunRisers, in contrast, suffered a humiliating 55-run loss to Rajasthan Royals, their sixth in seven games this season. They made a major change with Kane Williamson has taken over captaincy from David Warner, who also lost his place in the playing XI.
Mumbai openers Rohit Sharma (250 runs) and Quinton De Kock (155 runs) would be itching to give the five-time champions another strong platform and also convert their starts into big scores.
Mumbai's hard-hitting middle-order has clicked in the last two games, which would be quite pleasing for the team management. Pollard, who blazed his way to a match-winning 87 off 34 balls in the last game, would be keen to continue from where he left.
The likes of Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya and the flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav can be destructive on their day and the trio would be aiming to fire in unison.
Also, it remains to be seen if Mumbai plays Ishan Kishan or Jayant Yadav in place of all-rounder James Neesham, who was neither effective with the bat or was able to pick wickets.
However, the Mumbai bowlers would need to forget the hammering received at the hands of the CSK batsmen and start afresh.
The pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult have been exceptional at the death and would pose a big threat to the SRH batting unit, which has been inconsistent at best.
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (11 wickets) has been the MI's top wicket-taker, but he would need support from Krunal, who has just three scalps.
Pollard, also picked up two important wickets in the last game and can fill in the role of the fifth or sixth bowler.
On the other hand, there are problems aplenty in the SRH camp.
They are over-reliant on their top-order, especially Jonny Bairstow (248 runs), but their middle-order has faltered most often.
Against Rajasthan Royals, they dropped Warner and opened with Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow, with Williamson coming in at three. If they persist with the same line-up, the three need to fire on all cylinders.
Also, the likes of Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav Abdul Samad need to get back among the runs and provide momentum in the middle overs.
Mohammed Nabi, who replaced Warner, failed to make an impression with both bat and ball and it would be interesting to see if SRH persist with him against Mumbai Indians.
On the bowling front, star leg-spinner Rashid Khan has been the pick of the bowlers with 10 wickets but pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed need to strike early wickets.
Teams:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton De Kock (w/k), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (w/k), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami, Wriddhiman Saha, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh, Jason Holder, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.
Match starts at 7.30om IST.
