Hyderabad face-off Mumbai in the virtual knock-out game on Tuesday night to seal the playoffs-berth in Indian T20 League 2020.
After demolishing Delhi and Bangalore in back-to-back games, Orange Army is just one win away to take the 3rd spot in the table, while Mumbai would take this game as a warm-up ahead of the first qualifier on November 05.
Match Timings: Nov 03, 7:30 PM
Team Preview
Sharjah witness the high-voltage league game on Tuesday night, which would decide Hyderabad and Kolkata's fate. With better Net-Run-Rate, Hyderabad finds themselves in a better situation. If they win, they will directly move to 3rd spot and play eliminator against Bangalore in Abu Dhabi this week. The inclusion of Saha in the opening slot did wonder for them as the wicket-keeper batsman played fine innings in both winning games. It also solved Warner’s issue of picking four overseas players as Holder and Williamson fit into the squad. Holder is filling a vacuum in the bowling unit along with Rashid Khan. In the previous game, he played a winning cameo in the end to edge past Bangalore. Sandeep Sharma in powerplay and Natarajan in death are giving a positive sign to Warner. They are now a compact bowling unit. If Nadeem disappoints, the skipper can try Samad or Abhishek Sharma to fill his 4-overs quota. The batting-order is pretty good, starting with Warner-Saha, followed by Williamson and Pandey as sheet-anchors. Hyderabad has a brilliant opportunity to upset all the odds and emerge victorious against the defending champions.
Meanwhile, Mumbai has nothing to lose in this game as they finish at the top spot, despite losing this game. In the absence of Rohit, Pollard is doing what he did for Trinbago this year. Ishan Kishan and De Kock are giving a quick start, and Suryakumar Yadav is holding the middle-order charge. The pace-attack is Mumbai’s significant asset, and it would be a challenging task for Hyderabad to score runs against the duo of Boult and Bumrah. Rahul Chahar is pretty useful with the spin. Mumbai has loopholes slightly in the 4th and 5th bowling options where Hyderabad can attack. Rohit might be unavailable due to the injury and Mumbai will not any risk. 3 more days can give him much strength to fit for Qualifier 1 in Dubai. Pandya was rested in the previous game, and on Tuesday, we might see Surya or any other player taking rest. Hyderabad is going favorites after knowing the fact about the changes in Mumbai’s squad.
Pitch Report
Sharjah’s surface is a bit dry, and it offers good help to bowlers after playing so many matches on the used surface. Spinners can trouble in middle-overs. The short boundary is a big advantage, but it’s not a surface of 180 now. Chasing is always an ideal call, and it would create a difference in the outcome of this match.
Possible XI
Mumbai
Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard (c), Jayant Yadav/Hardik Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Hyderabad
David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
Key Players
Mumbai
Ishan Kishan
This season – M: 13, Runs: 395, Avg: 49.38
Jasprit Bumrah
This season – M: 13, Wickets: 23, Avg: 15.74
Hyderabad
Rashid Khan
This season – M: 13, Wickets: 18, Avg: 14.67
Jason Holder
This season – M: 4, Wickets: 8, Avg: 16.62
