Mumbai fight for survival against resurgent Lions

Saturday, May 21, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

After a stop-start season that has been difficult to gauge, Mumbai Indians' playoff hopes are mostly in their own hands. A win against Gujarat Lions in Kanpur will take them through; a defeat could consign them to the ranks of also-rans.

They have been here before - sort of. In each of the last two IPL seasons, Mumbai required a late charge to make it to the playoffs. Last season, that late charge extended into the playoffs and earned them the title. This time around, the early slump was not quite as pronounced, and there hasn't been much of a late charge to speak of. Nevertheless, as the defending champions treat their last league match like a knockout, they will seek to draw as much inspiration as they can from their late-season heroics in 2015.

Lions will be buoyed by their big win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday, but they cannot afford to relax yet. A loss to Mumbai could possibly leave them as one of five teams with 16 points, in which case their poor net run-rate of -0.479 would probably see them squeezed out. They will be keen to seal their qualification with a win, all the more so because it would assure them a top-two finish on the points table.

Gujarat Lions WLWLL (last five matches, most recent first)
Mumbai Indians WLWLW

Dwayne Smith's 4 for 8 ripped through Knight Riders and, while his returns with the ball will be a welcome bonus, it is a return to his early-season form with the bat that Lions will crave more. After Lions' middle order got a useful workout against Knight Riders, Suresh Raina would love his opening batsmen to rediscover their rampaging best.

With the season approaching its climax, Rohit Sharma has yet to find a reliable opening partner. However, Martin Guptill showed in the previous match that he might just be the man. He weathered some early struggles to play a composed knock of 48. Given Mumbai's poor opening partnerships this season, a firing Guptill would be pretty high on their wish-list.

Lions' top seven, including their four overseas players, virtually select themselves at this stage. Local boy Eklavya Dwivedi did not have much to do in the previous game and may get another chance on Saturday. All in all, an unchanged XI looks likely.

Gujarat Lions (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum , 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Aaron Finch, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Eklavya Dwivedi, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shadab Jakati

Mumbai Indians may be tempted to bring Hardik Pandya back into the playing XI, in which case he might just take R Vinay Kumar's place. The rest of the XI is unlikely to change.

Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Jos Buttler (wk), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Nitish Rana, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 R Vinay Kumar/Hardik Pandya, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Thursday's match at Green Park, the venue's IPL debut, saw seam, swing, a bit of grip off the surface, but fundamentally no real demons for the batsmen. A different strip will be used on Saturday, but it is likely to play in much the same manner. The ground's small boundaries may make for a boundary-leaden encounter. The weather is expected to remain clear but sultry.