Virtually out of the playoff race and struggling on multiple fronts, a horribly out-of-sorts Mumbai Indians will need a special team effort to arrest their slide when they take on Lucknow Super Giants in a return-leg IPL fixture on Sunday.
With seven defeats in as many matches, MI are winless this season and are languishing at the bottom with nothing going right for the five-time champions, who have failed to win the crunch moments and will need a miracle to make it to the playoffs.
Lucknow, on the other hand, have looked in good touch with four wins from seven matches but they are coming into the match after suffering a 18-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, the fact that LSG beat MI by 18 runs in their first leg will give them confidence.
MI have done well in patches but never looked as a unit, prompting former Australian batter Chris Lynn to stir speculations of a rift within the camp following their last defeat to Chennai Super Kings on Thursday. The defeat also handed MI the dubious record of becoming the first team in IPL history to lose its first seven matches in a season.
On the other hand, Lucknow’s batting has been led by skipper KL Rahul (265 runs), who had slammed an unbeaten 60-ball 103 the last time the two teams faced off on April 16. He is the second highest runscorer this season. Other opener Quinton de Kock (215 runs) too has been in good rhythm.
While Krunal Pandya was the top scorer against RCB, young Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda couldn’t convert their starts and need to step up when the going gets tough.
Match Details
Lucknow Super Giants vs Mumbai Indians, Match No. 37
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Date & Time: April 24th at 7:30 PM IST
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network, Star Gold and Disney+Hotstar
LSG vs MI Dream 11 Prediction
Keeper – Lokesh Rahul (C), Quinton de Kock
Batsmen – Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis
All-rounders – Jason Holder, Marcus Stoinis, Daniel Sams
Bowlers – Avesh Khan, Jaydev Unadkat, Jasprit Bumrah
Captain: KL Rahul
Vice-captain: Suryakumar Yadav
LSG vs MI Probable XIs:
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith, Hrithik Shokeen, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat