Problems aplenty for SRH as rampant Mumbai come to town

By Ekanth, April 23:

Big picture: Lots to lose for SRH, lots to win for MI

Mixed results were an inherent risk with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) approaching batting like they have nothing to lose. It was polarising, but playing like that nearly won them IPL 2024. They won five of their first seven games last year; in IPL 2025, it's been the opposite.

The template for their success has been for Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma to get off to a flier. Them falling for low scores in that attempt was meant to happen at some point or the other. The issue, as was magnified in the last game - against the same opponents - was that the openers got stuck at times.

In a way, that's worse than getting out for low scores as the top-order batters end up using more balls, which is the pitfall of conservative batting, the style that SRH deliberately tried to avoid. The facts that Nitish Kumar Reddy averages 21 and that Heinrich Klaasen's highest score so far this season is 35 have cascaded the effects of poor starts.

Their bowling has had little to show amid all this. Mohammed Shami is averaging 52.20 and Pat Cummins 36 so far. Their spinners have taken the least wickets, and have the worst economy across teams this season.

Mumbai Indians (MI) are perfectly placed in all of this. They built their success in the last decade by starting slow and catching up as the season progressed. They had one win after five games this season, before a hat-trick of wins lifted them to the sixth spot; one more on Wednesday will take them up to third. They lost their first three games away from home but handed Delhi Capitals (DC) their first loss of the season with a remarkable comeback win.

Trent Boult has not only swung the new ball but also used his variations early on. Jasprit Bumrah is finding his rhythm after injury, but unlike most mortals, is doing it much quicker and with a lot more control. Reverse swing coming back into fold due to the use of saliva is helpful.

That might be necessary in Hyderabad, which is unlikely to assist the bowlers like the slow Wankhede pitch in the previous match. What they do have, under Hardik Pandya and experienced bowlers, is the ability to suss out the conditions early and try out multiple plans.

Form Guide

Sunrisers Hyderabad LWLLL (last five matches, most recent first)

Mumbai Indians WWWLL

In the spotlight: Nitish Kumar Reddy and Mitchell Santner

MI's turnaround win against DC was set up by Mitchell Santner dismissing Karun Nair with a jaffa that pitched around middle and off and clipped top of off. That was a shortish ball at 90ks. But he can also loop a ball at 77ks, draw a batter forward and have him stumped, like he did to Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) Shaik Rasheed. His ability to bowl defensively or aggressively on demand makes him a more conditions-agnostic fingerspinner than most others.

Nitish Kumar Reddy has had a sharp dip in form. He has scored 131 runs at an average of 21.33 and a strike rate of 113.91 in seven games. He hasn't bowled yet either. SRH probably need a batter who can bat long, but Reddy hasn't been successful in doing that so far.

Team news and likely XIIs

SRH brought in Rahul Chahar as their impact player in the last game based on conditions. They also left out Abhinav Manohar upon batting first. They might need to bring back Manohar or perhaps introduce Atharva Taide to strengthen their line-up.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar/Atharva Taide, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Zeeshan Ansari, 12 Eshan Malinga/Wiaan Mulder

Mumbai Indians (MI) are unlikely to make a change given their success in the last game given all players remain fit. They are also well balanced with seven bowling options, Will Jacks included, and seven specialist batters and Santner, who is handy at No. 8.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Ashwani Kumar

Pitch and Conditions

The pitch at Hyderabad is likely to be a belter not just because that's generally the case but also because SRH's batters need to turn a corner. There have been four scores of 240-plus this season in eight innings so far, so expect a lot of runs. It's going to be a warm evening after a hot day, where the max temperature is forecast to be 38° celsius in Hyderabad.

Stats and Trivia

Hyderabad as a ground has the highest strike-rate amongst batters and also the place where most sixes have been hit this season.

MI's batters averaged 28.50 and scored at a run rate of 8.60 in their first four games, but those numbers have shot up to 36.04 and 10.25, respectively in the last four.

MI's run-rate of 10.51 in the middle overs since April 7 is the best among all teams. (ESPN CRICINFO)