Mumbai, Lions look to ride momentum

Saturday, April 16, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

After crumbling in all departments against Rising Pune Supergiants, Mumbai Indians crumbled in the field against Kolkata Knight Riders. But Mitchell McClenaghan's funky promotion and Jos Buttler's blast ultimately helped Mumbai gun down 188 for their first points. Buttler could be unstoppable on Saturday too, if the Wankhede pitch plays true to its nature. Martin Guptill, who can be equally unstoppable once he gets going, has joined the Mumbai roster as a replacement for the injured Lendl Simmons. That Rohit Sharma has broken his lean patch with 84 not out against Knight Riders, highlighted by pristine drives, comes as a big boost to the hosts.

Mumbai, however, will have to contend with playing only three more matches at the Wankhede this season, including the clash against Gujarat Lions. A Bombay High Court ruling has ordered matches after April 30 to be moved out of Maharashtra because of a state-wide drought. Mumbai will aim to veer from their late-surge template and find some early pace at home to build momentum. Lions already have built it, having sealed two comfortable victories in two matches. Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina come close to matching Royal Challengers Bangalore's top three in terms of winning games on their own. Dwayne Bravo's dipping slower balls, James Faulkner's slippery back-of-the-hand variety, and Pravin Tambe's sliders cap a bowling attack that has plenty of skill, but Lions will have to do without Ravindra Jadeja, who is getting married on Sunday, and will therefore miss the game.

Hardik Pandya's celebrations know no bounds. He has jumped high into the night, clenched his fists, set off on sprints, and roared wildly. The allrounder has batted at No.3 in both games for Mumbai so far and managed scores of 9 each time. He has been quiet with the ball as well. Can he kick into overdrive against Lions?

Aaron Finch and Dwayne Bravo were the key men for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League this season, although the team did not make the knockouts. Finch made 246 runs at 49.20, while Bravo hit 201 runs at 50.25 in addition to claiming six wickets. The two have started brightly for Lions in the IPL. Finch has struck back-to-back fifties and picked up back-to-back Man-of-the-Match awards, while Bravo has turned games with his assortment of slower balls.

Guptill may take Tim Southee's place and Parthiv Patel could be left out in favour of Vinay Kumar. In that case, Buttler will keep wicket. Left-arm spinning allrounder J Suchith, who received a pasting in the last match, may make way for Karnataka team-mate Shreyas Gopal.

Mumbai Indians (probable) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Martin Guptill/Parthiv Patel, 3 Hardik Pandya, 4 Jos Buttler (wk), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 Shreyas Gopal/J Suchith, 8 Harbhajan Singh 9 Mitchell McClenaghan 10 Vinay Kumar/Tim Southee 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Lions have no like-for-like replacement for Jadeja, and will have to choose between playing an extra batsman in Ishan Kishan or a left-arm spinner in Shivil Kaushik. Pravin Tambe dragged Supergiants back with his sliders and is likely to keep his place in the XI.

Gujarat Lions (probable) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Dwayne Bravo, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Akshdeep Nath, 7 Ishan Kishan/Shivil Kaushik, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Praveen Kumar 10 Shadab Jakati 11 Pravin Tambe

The Wankhede did not dish out a typical belter in the IPL opener. The surface offered early seam movement and then grip to the spinners before easing out. Dew may be a factor, which means that the team chasing will have an edge.

"Jos is going to be a very important member of the team. Going ahead into the tournament, he is a key factor for us… We know he is that kind of a player. He has done it for England many times."
Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma

"I think in these first two games, his [Raina's] captaincy has been outstanding. In both the games, we got off to a rough start with the ball, but he has remained calm, composed under pressure and made sound decisions."
Brendon McCullum