New Delhi: The team of Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants will be face to face in Lucknow on Friday in the IPL match. All the eyes in the collision of both the teams will remain on Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant.
Five -time champions Mumbai Indians have not yet been well performed this season and it has only two points in three matches. Indian captain Rohit’s poor form is a matter of concern for Mumbai. The same applies to Lucknow captain Pant who is struggling to score runs.
Both these teams have won only one of the three matches so far and in such a match on Friday, the team which will make better harmony with the circumstances will increase the chances of winning.
Not only this, this time curator is not preparing a pitch friendly for home teams, on which some franchise coaches and players have expressed their displeasure. In such a situation, the possibility of victory of the team that performs well in power play will increase.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s injury for Mumbai is also a matter of concern. Hardik Pandya -led team has kept silence about how long Bumrah will return.
It is not easy to replace Bumrah but left -handed young fast bowler Ashwani Kumar has raised a new ray of hope in the Mumbai team by performing brilliantly against Kolkata Knight Riders in the last match. Ashwani Kumar took four wickets for 24 runs in this match.
The 23 -year -old fast bowler, who hails from Punjab, performed brilliantly in the IPL after playing only four T20 matches in domestic cricket and dismissed batsmen like Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell.
Mumbai bowlers performed well against Kolkata in Wankhede. But he was South African wicketkeeper batsman Ryan Recelleton who brought the team to the target. If Mumbai has to continue a similar performance, then Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav will have to play a big role.
As far as Lucknow is concerned, his team has not yet done the expected performance after a disappointing defeat of a wicket from Delhi Capitals in the opening match of IPL in Visakhapatnam. The good thing for Lucknow is that West Indies batsman Nicholas Puran is running in good form. He has scored 189 runs in three matches so far but no other Lucknow batsman has been able to bat like Puran, except Mitchell Marsh of Australia.
Squad of Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (captain and wicketkeeper), Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Akash Singh, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajwardhan Hungargkar, Himmat Singh, Shamar Joseph, Aryan Juyal, Arshin Kulkarni, Eden Markram, Michel Marsh, David Milr, Nicols Puran, Prince Yadav, Digolas Puran, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, Manimaran Siddharth, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Yadav.
Squad of Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Trent Bolt, Jasprit Bumra, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Bewon Jacobs, Robin Minj, Mujib ur Rahman, Naman Dhir, Vignesh Puthur, Satyanarayan Raju, Ryan Reclon, Mitan Rantner, Karnar, Karna Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Krishnan Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Krishnan Sharma, Krishnan Sharma Tilak Verma, Rece Topley, Suryakumar Yadav