Two former champions will play out a dead rubber in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday when the Mumbai Indians go up against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium, in the penultimate game of the campaign for both sides.
It is more than fair to say that both teams would have been expecting much more from their efforts this term but all they have left to play for is contracts and combinations for next season so this might lack a competitive edge.
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians would have gone into the campaign with expectations high with them being the only team in the league who have played matches on their home ground this season. The simple fact is that despite that short advantage they haven’t been good enough over the course of the campaign and their fate was sealed pretty early. To their credit though, they have won three of their last four matches having lost their opening eight.
They do deserve credit for that because it would have been easy for them to completely jack the season in from the position they found themselves in. At the very least they will be able to carry some positive thoughts into next season with them if they can win their last two, even if that won’t be enough to extend this term. In order for that to happen their star batters need to deliver the goods a couple more times.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
This has been a season of sequences for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. They opened it with a couple of losses and there were plenty thinking that this would be another season of shame, however they followed that with five victories in a row. That rose hopes that they had got their house in order and were ready to gatecrash the final stage party. As quickly as those hopes materialised though they were dashed with five straight losses heading into game.
The big problems the Sunrisers have had this season is their bowlers have continually gone round the park aside from that five game winning run. Admittedly they haven’t been helped with injuries but even so there should be enough depth in a squad to manage. The other issue is the lack of runs of Kane Williamson at the top of the order and the time it is taking him to score the runs he has scored. He has 208 runs in 12 innings at an average of 18.90 and a strike rate of 92.65. Neither are good enough.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this series! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Key Players
You would imagine if Rohit Sharma can get on top of the Sunrisers bowling early on then Mumbai Indians are going to go a great deal closer to winning this match. This should be the sort of occasion the Indians captain can express himself in.
On the flip side of that the Sunrisers Hyderabad need early wickets else this match could get away from them very quickly. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been economical this season but only has 11 wickets from 12 matches. The orange men need wickets from him.
Betting
I think these two teams are finishing the season in completely different veins and I don’t expect that to change here. Mumbai Indians have won three of their last four and are showing some pride and some fight whereas the Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost their last five and aren’t really showing anything. The big problem for the Sunrisers is they have barely been close in those five defeats. Admittedly the first loss was a heart-breaking one against the Gujarat Titans but since then they have lost by 13 runs, 21 runs, 67 runs and 54 runs.
The biggest issue in those five defeats is that they have conceded 199/5, 202/2, 207/3, 192/3 and 177/6. When you lack batting depth and form batters you just can’t win when you leak that many runs. Mumbai Indians destroyed the Chennai Super Kings last time out and had good wins over the Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans early in their three wins in four run. Mumbai have much better depth, much better balance and more options to make in game moves than Hyderabad and I expect that to see them winning this match.
Tips
Back Mumbai Indians to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
