Klaasen gears up for battle against Bumrah as Sunrisers and Mumbai aim for first points

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Mumbai Indians (MI)
Hyderabad, 1930 IST (1400 GMT)

Over the last couple of years, Sunrisers Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen has developed into one of the most fearsome hitters in T20 cricket. He was their top-scorer in IPL 2023 - 448 at a strike rate of 177 - and has begun 2024 with a ferocious display at Eden Gardens, where his 63 off 29 balls nearly upstaged Andre Russell. While all of the other SRH batters got starts against Kolkata Knight Riders, Klaasen was the sole reason they stayed in the chase as long as they did.

On Wednesday, against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad, Klaasen could face a brand-new challenge. Well almost. His head-to-head battle with Jasprit Bumrah is only one-ball old, and he scored one run off it. In ODIs, he's faced 20 deliveries from Bumrah and scored 18 runs for one dismissal. Amid the glut of international and franchise cricket, the prospect of a new match-up between two players on top of their game is a rarity.

Given Klaasen's importance to Sunrisers, Mumbai could well keep the majority of Bumrah's overs for when he's in the middle. They will certainly minimise bowling spin to Klaasen - since the start of 2023 he averages 148.5 and has a strike rate of 193 against spin in T20 cricket. But Klaasen's no mug against pace either. He has a career strike rate of 148.45 against the quicks, and dispatched Mitchell Starc for three sixes in an over on Saturday.

Bumrah, though, is usually in a league of his own. After missing IPL 2023 with a back injury, he made his comeback to the league with a spell of 3 for 14 in Mumbai's season opener against Gujarat Titans despite two of his overs coming at the death. All of which sets up the prospect of a tantalising battle with Klaasen, as both Mumbai and Sunrisers gun for their first points of IPL 2024.

The match is especially significant for the Sunrisers, who lost six out of seven home games last season, and would love a winning start in Hyderabad this year.

In his first match as Mumbai Indians captain, Hardik Pandya travelled to the home of the team he first led in the IPL, and found himself booed at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. He was also the subject of much vitriol on social media, especially for asking Rohit Sharma to field on the boundary. Some of Hardik's other captaincy decisions also came under scrutiny, like opening the bowling himself and bringing on Bumrah only in the fourth over of the Titans innings, and batting at No. 7 below Tim David. Will Hyderabad be kinder to Hardik Pandya?

Aiden Markram led the Sunrisers franchise in the SA20 - Eastern Cape - to back to back titles but his stock has dropped in Hyderabad and he was replaced as captain by Pat Cummins ahead of this season. Markram was picked for SRH's opening game in Kolkata and made 18 off 13 balls. After a poor IPL 2023 - 248 runs at a strike rate of 126 - he needs to find form quickly this year to stay ahead of Travis Head and Glenn Phillips in the overseas pecking order.

Legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga is yet to join the Sunrisers squad and is expected to be unavailable for at least another week as he consults doctors overseas about chronic pain in his left heel. The question for Sunrisers is whether to persist with Marco Jansen, who was expensive against KKR, as their overseas bowling option for a while longer.

In terms of Impact Player strategy, SRH swapped out fast bowler T Natarajan after bowling at Eden Gardens and brought in opener Abhishek Sharma for the chase.

Probable XII: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Marco Jansen/Fazalhaq Farooqi, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Mayank Markande, 12 T Natarajan

Suryakumar Yadav continues to be unavailable for Mumbai Indians as he recovers from ankle surgery at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He is also unlikely to be fit for Mumbai's first home game on April 1.

Mumbai named only three overseas players in their XI when bowling first against Titans, swapping out fast bowler Luke Wood and bringing in middle-order batter Dewald Brevis for the chase.

Probable XII: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Naman Dhir, 4 Dewald Brevis, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Tim David, 8. Shams Mulani, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Luke Wood

"I feel the team is exactly the same. We still have goals and the team environment is really great. Rohit is still an amazing leader and I still learn from him every day, as well as Hardik. I learn from him. I feel the team environment is really in a good place and we are ready for whatever lies ahead for us as a team"
Dewald Brevis on the change of captaincy at Mumbai Indians