Big picture: A crucial time for three former champions
After the heights run-scoring reached last season, a total of 300 felt like a matter of time. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were the favourites to do it, and they almost did on their first try, scoring 286 for 6. That made Dale Steyn, bowling coach with SRH till last year, post a "small prediction": "April 17 we'll see the first 300 in IPL. Who knows, I might even be there to see it happen."
April 17 is upon us. And SRH face Mumbai Indians (MI), the team against whom they began playing the brand of cricket that took them to a runners-up finish in IPL 2024. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, batting at No. 3 then, hit ultra-aggressive 60s that laid the platform for the then-highest IPL total.
Both MI and SRH are on four points in six matches at this stage in IPL 2025 with only net run-rate separating them on the points table. This clash also starts a crucial phase for both these teams and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who are bottom of the pile. MI and SRH play twice in six days, and are CSK's next two opponents. The next ten days could well have a say in the fates of each of these former IPL champions.
Form guide
Mumbai Indians WLLWL (last five matches, most recent first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad WLLLL
New loyalties
After playing seven seasons for MI, Ishan Kishan will turn up against them for SRH. Kishan was not retained by MI ahead of the mega auction after making 320 runs at a strike rate of 149 last season. They tried to buy him back but dropped out of the bidding at INR 3.2 crore and SRH eventually bought Kishan for INR 11.25 crore.
Team news and likely XIIs
MI had Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma in the top four in their last game. If they persist with that combination, there could be a case for bringing in either Bevon Jacobs or Corbin Bosch instead of Will Jacks, who is not a natural fit in the lower-middle order. Bosch had a longish bowling stint on the eve of the game.
Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Will Jacks/Corbin Bosch/Bevon Jacobs, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Karn Sharma/Vignesh Puthur
The Mumbai Indians batter has just 38 runs from four innings this season
SRH come into this game on the back of a 246 chase against Punjab Kings (PBKS). They might be thinking of bolstering their bowling options. On the eve of the game, South Africa allrounder Wiaan Mulder bowled to Abhinav Manohar and Aniket Verma, among others, in the nets.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Zeeshan Ansari, 12 Eshan Malinga/Wiaan Mulder
In the spotlight
Early wickets will be vital in stopping an explosive SRH batting line-up and Trent Boult is usually a good bet for it. Just that, this season, he has picked up only two wickets in the first six overs. Both of those came in matches at the Wankhede. His strike rate in the powerplay has risen from 19 in IPL 2024 to 36 this season. So has his economy rate - 9.1, up from 7 last year.
Ishan Kishan had a great start to his campaign, but his form has tapered off since - he has three single-digit scores in four completed innings. But SRH aren't worried. Coach Daniel Vettori said, "I talked about a little bit of luck and he's at the hardest in terms of that - in terms of [getting out caught] down the leg side and picking out a few fielders. So I still feel like he's still the batsman that scored that hundred in the first game."
The big question
MI's fast bowlers largely pick themselves but who should be their spinners against SRH?
Pitch and conditions
Traditionally, the Wankhede Stadium is known to be a chase-friendly venue, but since the start of IPL 2024, teams batting first have won five of the nine games here. Pitch No. 6 will be used for the contest, meaning the square boundaries will be fairly equidistant.
Stats and trivia
SRH have the worst economy rate in the powerplay in IPL 2025. But MI will need to buck up to exploit that. They have struggled to start innings off, with their opening partnership only averaging 22.16.
Mohammed Shami has a favourable match-up against Rohit Sharma in the IPL - three dismissals for 65 runs in 58 balls. Shami has also dismissed Hardik Pandya three times in the tournament but the MI captain has a strike rate of 180 against him.
MI have options to keep Abhishek quiet. There's Jasprit Bumrah (two wickets for ten runs in 17 balls in the IPL), Deepak Chahar (two wickets for 19 runs in 12 balls) and Boult (two wickets for 25 runs in 26 balls).
Bumrah is four strikes away from 300 T20 wickets.
Quotes
"Mitch [Santner] has been an exceptionally good bowler for a long period of time. To bowl that style, you see a lot of spinners now resorting to bowling fast in these conditions where the batsmen are so aggressive. But I think Mitch has been able to stay true to that aggressive style, changes his pace, bowling extremely slow. So I think he's a real challenge for any batting group coming up against him and whether they're left or right-handed, he's still successful. So, he'll be a big conversation amongst batters."
SRH head coach Daniel Vettori
