Mumbai Indians will be against their arch-rivals, the Chennai Super Kings, in the upcoming clash as the league touches the halfway mark. With equal win and losses, the Indians find themselves at the fourth spot of the table, punching below their weight and not quite meeting the expectations that most have with them.
On the other side are the Super Kings, who have been ruthless ever since their seven-wicket drubbing against the Delhi Capitals in their tournament opener. They have a momentum stronger than any side in the tournament thus far, as they arrive in this with five wins on the trot. Plugging all the gaps from the last edition, they have taken a formidable shape.
Mumbai must be pleased with the kind of start they managed to the Delhi leg, the second in the tournament, as they defeated the Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets. But from here on, the journey will be about maintaining that run. Can they? Against the most dominant side of IPL 2021? What would be the ideal XI for that?
Here’s the Predicted Playing XI of Mumbai Indians (MI) for IPL 2021 Match 27:
Openers – Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock
Rohit Sharma has not had the best of the seasons thus far, amassing 215 runs from seven innings at an average in the mid-30s. In the previous game against the Royals, he struck below 100 and could not get along after getting his eyes in (14 off 17).
What would, however, please the Indians mightily is the way their other opener, Quinton de Kock fared. After a streak of low, unimposing scores under his belt, de Kock got a fluent, unbeaten 70 off 50 that took his team across the winning line. He showed intent early on, ending the powerplay with 29 off 19, and responsibly stayed till the very end to ensure that the team started things at the new venue being on the correct side of the result.
Middle-order – Suryakumar Yadav
The otherwise reliant middle-order of the Mumbai Indians has not been able to live up to that reputation this year. The team took the harsh call of excluding Ishan Kishan, whose struggle has only grown with time this year. Neither runs nor intent meant that he was treading on thin ice and he ended up losing the spot as Mumbai opted in an extra pacer in Nathan Coulter-Nile and promoted Krunal Pandya up the order alongside Suryakumar Yadav.
Continuing with his style of getting positive and brisk starts before perishing, Yadav smacked three fours in his 10 ball stay that fetched 16. But much like the previous games, he ended his knock in a disappointing fashion, this time by picking the fielder at midwicket, giving him a straightforward chance. Without Kishan alongside, the responsibility only increases on Yadav as the team eyes the Playoffs berth from now.
All-rounders – Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya
Did he play the last game? Yes. Did he bat? No. Bowled? No. Any catch(es)? Nope. It was that kind of a match for Hardik Pandya. Yet, given the way he has been backed by the team, Pandya will hold his position in the team.
Meanwhile, his elder brother Krunal Pandya finally got back amongst the runs, and that too in some style. His 23-ball 39 steadied the team after Mumbai lost a couple of wickets in quick time. Even as he failed to close the game, his getting into runs will be a massive boost for the side going forward.
After Pandya took an exit, it was Kieron Pollard who joined de Kock to finish the formalities. His 8-ball 16 included a couple of boundaries and a six and he ensured that the team won with plenty to spare.
Bowlers – Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Nathan Coulter-Nile
After a couple of reasonable outings with the ball, Jayant Yadav went for plenty in the last game, leaking 37 in a three-over wicketless spell, although given CSK’s batting side has a couple of left-handers, he will pick himself alongside Rahul Chahar, who has not put a foot wrong this year. Having bagged 9 wickets before the previous game, Chahar added two more to the tally as he returned with 2/33.
The pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, and Coulter-Nile will be in action too. While this year both Boult and Bumrah have not been able to strike in the powerplay or bag wickets in buckets like last year, their ability to put a lid on the scoring continued to threaten the opposition batsmen. Against the Royals, Bumrah gave only 15 runs apart from getting a wicket.
Coulter-Nile, who has been guilty of leaking runs in the past too, however, continued with his ways, giving away 35 with no success, while Boult too returned with 1/37.
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