Big picture
After MS Dhoni hit an almost inevitable last-ball boundary off Jaydev Unadkat on Thursday, Mumbai Indians became the first team to start an IPL season with seven successive defeats. The only way for them from there is up; or is there no bottom to the abyss Mumbai are hurtling into?
Halfway into the season, both captain Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan are still searching for their rhythm at the top. Kieron Pollard is yet to pass 25 in an innings, with Lucknow Super Giants probably waiting to unleash their wristspinner Ravi Bishnoi on him to prolong his lean run.
While Jasprit Bumrah has been unhittable at various stages, he has managed only four wickets in seven games. Rohit has been rifling through his options, using 18 of the 24 members in their roster, excluding Jofra Archer who isn't fit enough for this season. Their latest debutant Hrithik Shokeen, the 21-year-old offspin-bowling allrounder from Delhi, fronted up to bowl to the right-hand pair of Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayudu in what was his first formal T20 match.
With Mumbai now all but out of the race for the playoffs, will they test their bench strength further and take a closer look at the likes of R Sanjay Yadav, the Tamil Nadu allrounder, and Mayank Markande, their old friend?
As for Super Giants, there haven't been as many missteps. They are pretty much in contention for the playoffs, with four wins from seven games. They ran into a red-hot Faf du Plessis in their last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, but prior to that, they had polished off Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium.
Their bowling ticks most boxes, but there are some concerns around the middle order. Is Manish Pandey the right candidate at No.3? Should one of Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder bat up the order?
Likely XIs
Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Dewald Brevis, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Kieron Pollard/Tim David, 7 Hrithik Shokeen/Mayank Markande, 8 Jaydev Unadkat, 9 Daniel Sams, 10 Riley Meredith, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Lucknow Super Giants: 1 KL Rahul (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Manish Pandey/K Gowtham, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Krunal Pandya, 6 Ayush Badoni, 7 Marcus Stoinis 8 Jason Holder, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Ravi Bishnoi
Strategy punt
You cannot ignore KL Rahul's IPL numbers against Bumrah: 124 runs off 99 balls at an average of 62 and strike rate of 125.25 with just two dismissals.
Mumbai could keep Bumrah away from Rahul, and perhaps hold him back for the middle and end overs. Maybe throw the new ball to Daniel Sams and Riley Meredith, and hope they get lucky? It has been that kind of a season for Mumbai.Dushmantha Chameera has dominated Rohit in T20 cricket, getting the batter six times in ten innings while giving up a mere 33 runs off 32 balls. Can Chameera make it seven strikes in 11 innings on Sunday?
Stats that matter
Rohit bagged his 14th duck in the IPL against Chennai Super Kings on Thursday. Nobody has bagged more ducks than Rohit in the tournament.
Bishnoi has restricted Pollard to 15 runs off 12 balls, but is yet to dismiss him in T20 cricket. But the wristspinner has had Suryakumar's number in the IPL, dismissing him three times in four innings.
With 13.05, Mumbai have the worst economy rate at the death among all ten teams this IPL. Super Giants have fared much better in this phase, conceding 10.95 an over.
Avesh Khan and Holder have taken five wickets each at the death this IPL. Only T Natarajan (six), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (seven) and Dwayne Bravo (seven) have more wickets than them in that phase.
This will be Mumbai's first match at the Wankhede Stadium this IPL. Since 2018, Mumbai have come up on top in eight of the 14 games they have played at this venue, including a Super Over victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2019.
