Overview: Mumbai eyes final playoff spot

Mumbai Indians slipped in their previous game in Lucknow and face a tough game against Sunrisers Hyderabad to qualify for the playoffs. The good news for them is that they are back home for their last league outing, and Wankhede has been a stronghold for them this season.

They have won four of their six home games so far, chasing totals of 186, 213 and 200. If they beat the Sunrisers on Sunday afternoon, they will end the season with their best ever record at Wankhede. Mumbai’s hitters – and Suryakumar Yadav in particular – have been exceptional at home, and Mumbai will rely on them against the lower-ranked Sunrisers.

Mumbai must win to hope to finish in the top four, and even then they will need Gujarat Titans to come to their aid and beat Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday night. If a net run rate appears, Mumbai may struggle to do so unless they beat the Sunrisers by a huge margin.

The Sunrisers are the second team to be eliminated from the playoffs and need a win to try to avoid finishing last in the season. When these two teams met earlier this season, Mumbai won by 14 points.

big question

Latest results

Bombay Indians:LWWLW (Last five games, last first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: LLLWL

Team news: Tilak Varma is still in doubt

Tilak Varma has missed Mumbai’s last four games through injury and faces a fitness test ahead of the match. The Sunrisers should have all players available for selection.

Impact player strategy

Bombay Indians

Vishnu Vinod is likely to start if Mumbai beats first, or step in as an Impact player to replace Akash Madhwal if he plays first. However, if Varma is fit, he could play in Vinod’s place.

Mumbai Indians (Possible XII) 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Nehal Wadhera, 5 Tim David, 6 Vishnu Vinod7 Cameron Green, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Hrithik Shokeen/Kumar Kartikeya, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Jason Behrendorff, 12 Akash Madwal

Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Sunrisers could stay with the same team that played against the RCB. T Natarajan will start and turn into a batter if he plays first, and vice versa. However, it remains to be seen if Umran Malik returns; he can replace Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Possible XII) 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Aiden Markram (captain), 4 Heinrich Klaasen (week), 5 Harry Brook, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Abdul Samad8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kartik Tyagi, 10 Mayank Dagar, 11 Nitish Kumar Reddy/Umran Malik, 12T Natarajan

Statistics are important

Quote

“It’s just another game for us. Yes, from the outside it looks like it’s a big game and we have to wait for other results etc., but we know what we’ve done here at Wankhede in the last four-five games. So we know our strengths. So we will support that and focus on that.”

Suryakumar Yadav sure to go to Mumbai Indians final home game.