MI v SRH preview: Mumbai Indians will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the ninth game of IPL 2021 – here’s all you need to know about the fixture.
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IPL 2021: MI v SRH preview
Sunrisers Hyderabad must be cringing at the thought of playing again in Chennai. The surface was supposed to suit their strengths, but after a series of poor decisions, they find themselves with zero points and looking to get off the mark in the points table against Mumbai. They have a few injury concerns compounding their woes and might be forced to stick to less-than-ideal options.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, have had a mixed start to the season. They looked decent against RCB, but ended up losing to AB de Villiers and looked ordinary against Kolkata, but ended up winning it in the death. Will they get to bat first again on the Chepauk wicket? If not, Mumbai might find it hard against Sunrisers and their army of slower bowlers.
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Team news
SRH: Kane Williamson could be available for this game, and he might slot straight back in for Bairstow, being a better player of spin. They might choose to bench Wriddhiman Saha, if Bairstow plays and keeps, and also Vijay Shankar. Will Priyam Garg get a game?
MI: Mumbai Indians aren’t really driven by results and rely on the process more. They might make a solitary change and bring in Adam Milne for Marco Jansen, but even that is a stretch. An extra spinner in Jayant Yadav is also a possibility to counter David Warner.
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Pitch and weather
The Chennai surface has seen three of the four matches won by the team batting first with the one win by the chasing side coming after a freak knock from AB de Villiers. All teams have chosen to bowl first at this venue, though, so far in the tournament this season. The team winning the toss should look to bat first here. Temperatures are in the mid to early 30s with the surface expected to slow down in the latter half. A softer ball makes batting further harder.
Read the MI v SRH Dream11 fantasy preview here.
MI v SRH Predicted XI
MI: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
SRH: David Warner (c), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson/Abhishek Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Priyam Garg, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma
