Skipper Hardik Pandya’s much-anticipated comeback after serving a one-match ban will lend the required balance to Mumbai Indians’ line-up when they take on an equally desperate Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Saturday as both teams are chasing their first victory in the ongoing edition of the IPL. Mumbai could not break their long standing jinx of losing their IPL opener as Chennai Super Kings comfortably won by four wickets while Gujarat Titans lost a high-scoring game to Punjab Kings by 11 runs. With nearly a week’s gap between the first and second games, the MI team spent a few days at Reliance’s Jamnagar facility where the whole unit relaxed and engaged in team bonding activities.
It is still early days in the tournment and MI’s struggle without their pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was apparent and missing regular skipper Pandya in the opening game only made the matter worse.
In Indian cricket, Pandya is the only pure pace bowling all-rounder, who can make a complete difference with either of his skill-sets.
His comeback means that Robin Minz possibly would have to sit out but MI’s batting on a slightly tacky Chepauk surface didn’t inspire much confidence.
But on Saturday evening in Ahmedabad, the conditions for batting will be much better after 475 runs cumulatively were scored in the opening match between Punjab Kings (243) and Titans (232).
And on a track which is a batting paradise, a serious question mark remains on Mohammed Siraj’s effectiveness. He gave away 54 runs in the opening game and was taken to cleaners by the Punjab Kings batters.
With not many senior Indian pacers in the GT ranks, it will be a strategic call that home team head coach Ashish Nehra will fret upon. The pressure to contain runs as well as take wickets is way too much on Kagiso Rabada and Rashid Khan.
In fact, if one revisits the opening games of both teams, it was evident that both are struggling with perfect combination of foreign recruits.
In case of MI, the issues have compounded because India’s current T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav has not been in form for a year now and former skipper Rohit Sharma’s current form is also inconsistent to put it mildly.
Pandya’s inclusion obviously adds firepower to batting and he can also open the bowling if necessary. He can also bowl those wide yorkers at the death overs, which Vyshak Vijaykumar of Punjab Kings executed effectively.
One of MI’s main problems is wicket-keeping as they rely heavily on Ryan Rickleton. Robin Minz, who played as a batter looked out of place even though it was just the first game.
It will also be a test for rookie left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur, who got three CSK wickets on a helpful track. At Motera, the ball won’t grip as much as it did at Chepauk and the turn will also be minimal. How the youngster is managed by his skipper is a big question.
For Titans, skipper Shubman Gill’s season with the willow will be an indicator as to how the team performs eventually.
In the opener, the manner in which Vyshak bowled only one type of deliveries — wide yorker or wide low full-toss — to Sherfane Rutherford’s arc, the home team coaching staff would feel that Glenn Phillips could be a better choice going forward, considering he also bowls off-spin.
But it is the bowling that will give Gill nightmares as most Indian bowlers — Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and veteran Ishant Sharma are one dimensional hit-the-deck bowlers. No pacer except Rabada has subtle variations in his armoury.
Teams (From): Gujarat Titans: Jos Buttler, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Anuj Rawat, Gerald Coetzee, Sherfane Rutherford, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Shrijith Krishnan (wk), Bevon Jacobs, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, VS Penmetsa, Arjun Tendulkar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jasprit Bumrah.
Match Starts 7:30 PM.
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