IPL 2024, SRH vs MI Preview: Hardik, Cummins look to bounce back in Hyderabad
It’s time for match 8 of the IPL 2024 season with the Sunrisers Hyderabad playing hosts to the Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium on Wednesday.
With both teams looking to bounce back from early disappointments. The spotlight will be on the new captains, Pat Cummins and Hardik Pandya, as they will need to get the focus back in the camp after close finishes against KKR and GT respectively.
Since last season, when they finished dead last in the points table, SRH is currently on a losing streak of 5 matches. This is something that Cummins would need to end early if his captaincy is to be successful at the Hyderabad-based franchise.
Hardik, on the other hand, certainly has his work cut out in Mumbai. Replacing a successful captain like Rohit Sharma was never going to be an easy job, but the all-rounder needs to win over the fan base quickly and make the team forget the capitulation they had in Ahmedabad a few days ago.
MI seemed to be cruising to get the win at one point before they went from 129 for 4 to 162 for 9 in the space of 4.1 overs to lose the match by 6 runs. For SRH, it was just a case of them being unlucky in the end against KKR.
Heinrich Klaasen played a heroic innings to get them to the brink of an incredible win, but in the end, they fell short by 4 runs.
With a batting order that, according to critics, needs its captain Hardik to step up and a bowling lineup, led by Cummins, which needs to be mindful of their performance in the death overs, the contest at the Uppal on Wednesday promises to be a cracker.
SRH vs MI: Head-To-Head
The two teams have faced in the IPL 21 times, with Mumbai winning 12 matches and Hyderabad having 9 victories to their name. However, the recent results show that the contest has been lop-sided in favour of Mumbai.
In the past five matches, MI have won four times. This includes a double in the 2023 season, where current RCB all-rounder Cameron Green starred for the five-time champions. SRH’s last win over MI came in 2022.
SRH vs MI: Team News
SRH is still waiting for the arrival of spinner and Sri Lanka’s T20 captain Wanindu Hasaranga. Reports suggest that Hasaranga could be unavailable for another week. The other question for SRH will be persisting with Marco Jansen in the bowling lineup.
Jansen was expensive with the ball against KKR and didn’t get much time with the bat at the Eden Gardens. Another headache for them would be the spot of Aiden Markram. The former SRH skipper scored 18 off 13 balls against KKR in the chase and the Hyderabad outfit could be tempted to bring in World Cup hero Travis Head into the lineup.
For Mumbai, the biggest miss for them this season has been Suryakumar Yadav. The Indian T20 star is still recovering surgery at the NCA and could miss MI’s first home game as well.
SRH vs MI: Hyderabad pitch conditions
The Rajiv Gandhi International stadium has always been known to deliver high-scoring pitches and we could expect the same for the first match of the new IPL season at the ground.
The spinners have got some purchase from the wicket later on as the match went on.
SRH vs MI: Predicted XIs
SRH Predicted XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande.
Impact player: T Natarajan.
MI Predicted XI: Ishan Kishan (WK), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Tim David, Shams Mulani, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah.