The Indian Premier League is back in Lucknow on Tuesday as the IPL 2024 season continues with a big game in the race for the top four as the Lucknow Super Giants take on the Mumbai Indians in an explosive looking contest.
Lucknow sit just outside the top five heading into the match but a win will move them into the top four with matches beginning to run out. Mumbai have struggled this term and probably need to win their last five games to extend their season.
Lucknow Super Giants
The Lucknow Super Giants have almost gone along unnoticed this season but they have moved themselves up to fifth spot in the table with five wins from their nine matches and given that they have a positive net run rate it should be that three wins from their last five outings will see them move into the latter stages of the competition as they look to win the Indian Premier League title for the first time.
We knew that Lucknow had a powerful batting unit and in the last few matches we have seen that in full but they haven’t been as tight with the ball as we are accustomed to seeing from them. Whether that is because the pitches in Lucknow are playing much better this season I’m not sure but they will hope over the remainder of the competition that their leading bowlers can stand up and be counted and get them the wins they need to progress.
Mumbai Indians
This is another season which is in danger of going completely wrong for the Mumbai Indians. This happened last term where they were cut some slack because there was no Jasprit Bumrah and they didn’t have the chance to account for his absence but there are no excuses this time around. This season they just haven’t got going at all and with three wins from their nine matches they have run out of room for error. They have to win every match from here on in.
If that is going to happen then the support bowlers to Bumrah are going to need to step up and be counted because they have been going around the park. Bumrah has gone at just 6.63 runs an over so far this season but only one other regular bowler is going at less than 10 an over and that is Mohammad Nabi who has only bowled 11 overs in five matches. If they can’t find a bowling unit to assist Bumrah then the Mumbai season will end pretty quickly.
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Key Players
Nicholas Pooran has scored 291 runs this season at an average of 58.20 and a strike rate of 165.34 and with the Mumbai Indians bowlers shipping runs at the rate that they are the West Indian could be licking his lips at the prospect of going big here.
If the Mumbai Indians are going to win this match then you would imagine that they have to get on top of the Lucknow Super Giants early on so this would be a really good time for Rohit Sharma to remind everyone how good he is.
Betting
I am really surprised that the Lucknow Super Giants are odds against to win this match at home. The Mumbai Indians’ bowling unit just can’t be trusted and while they have a number of batters who can get the job done it doesn’t make a difference if four of the five bowlers are going to concede over 160 from the overs which aren’t bowled by Jasprit Bumrah. We even saw in the last game that the pressure of carrying the attack alone is getting to him as he conceded 35 from his four overs.
If the reports are true that Mayank Yadav is going to be fit to return to the Lucknow Super Giants’ ranks here then they have four frontline bowlers who are going at less than nine an over this term and on a pitch which can suit the bowlers that has to be a positive for the home side here. They were a little unlucky to run into Sanju Samson on a going day over the weekend but I just don’t see Mumbai keeping the score down enough to win this one. Lucknow can catch fire at the top of the innings and smash runs at the death. I’ll back the hosts here.
Tips
Back Lucknow Super Giants to beat Mumbai Indians for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
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