The regular season of the Indian Premier League comes to a close on Tuesday and amazingly there is still something on the game as the final spot in the play-offs will be determined when the Sunrisers Hyderabad take on the Mumbai Indians in Sharjah.
The equation for the Indians is a simple one here. Whether they win or lose they will be taking on the Delhi Capitals in the first qualifier on Thursday whereas for the Sunrisers this is the first of what they hope will be four knockout matches over the next week or so.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
It hasn’t always been the most convincing or consistent season for the Sunrisers Hyderabad but what they have done well throughout the campaign is protect their net run rate and if they can find a win here it will be that which will have got them into the play-offs. They have to win the match though if they are to progress. Failure to do that will see their season ends after this game so the Sunrisers are playing knockout cricket.
We have seen one or two signs that the old Sunrisers are coming back. Traditionally they base their success on a strong bowling attack and while it had a wobble in the middle of the season shortly after some injuries hit, they have come good at the back end of the tournament and if they can produce the goods one more time here then they will feel they have enough to progress. Their batting doesn’t look quite as light as it did either.
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians have already secured top spot in the table and their title defence will continue in the play-offs against the Delhi Capitals whatever happens here. With only two days between this match and that postseason opener it wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see the champions rest a few key stars, especially the bowlers, in a bid to keep everyone fit and also to get game time into others in case they are required between now and the end of the season for whatever reason.
Mumbai have been so dominant with the bat this season and in recent games their openers have done a large part of the job so we might see a changed Mumbai batting order so that those who might need some time out in the middle get what they require. Mumbai will still want to go into the play-offs with a win to their name but I would imagine recovery and form of key players will be a bigger focus for them here.
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Key Men
David Warner will be needed both with the bat and in the field as captain if they Sunrisers Hyderabad are going to make it through to the knockout stages of the tournament. He is in good form and could come up against some Australians with the new ball which should help his impact.
With the Mumbai Indians likely to change up their personnel here their stand-in captain Kieron Pollard could be a key man for the defending champions. Not only is this ground ideal for his fireworks with the bat but he might be required to bowl some overs too.
Betting
This isn’t the easiest match in the world to bet on because we don’t really know the team that the Mumbai Indians are going to pick here. They might well bring a couple of players in who have been without cricket to get some game time and although they will be rusty it doesn’t mean that they can’t deliver the goods here. That might make the Sunrisers the favourites to win the game but we only have to look back to Sunday when the Kings XI Punjab were in a similar situation to this and made a complete mess of it.
That leads me to the top batsman market where I think the 8/1 on Kieron Pollard to top score for the Mumbai Indians could be worth taking. Sunrisers are pretty strong at the start of their bowling innings as we saw in their last game against Bangalore. This ground is perfectly built for Pollard as even his mishits will go for six and he hasn’t batted properly for a little while so he could go up the order. In a match I’m not all that keen on much in Pollard to top score will do for me.
Tips
WON – Back K.Pollard Top Mumbai Indians Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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