Plot:

Sunrisers Hyderabad are only one of two teams to have won both their opening games of the Indian Premier League (IPL) so far, this season. The defending champions beat last year’s runner-up, Royal Challengers Bangalore and then tamed Gujarat Lions. Both these wins came on their home turf in Hyderabad. However, they now travel to our fortress, the Wankhede for our third game of the season.

The last two seasons have seen clean sweeps by both the teams! In 2015, when we won the IPL, we beat the Sunrisers home and away. They won the IPL last year, and did the same to us. We are fresh off an inspirational victory over Kolkata Knight Riders. Our young guns kept their cool right till the end while chasing 179 against some quality spin bowling. Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya left the launch for the final few overs and saw the team home when the odds were against them.

One department that we improved leaps and bounds in was our bowling. Lasith Malinga was a bit rusty to start off with, but got back to his usual self in the death overs. Krunal Pandya & Harbhajan Singh kept a tight lid over the runs during the middle overs and will be expected to do the same against the Sunrisers, who have some attacking batsmen in their line-up. Against the smart set of Hyderabad bowlers, our batsmen will have to pace their innings with good timing, once again.

In an already landmark season, Lasith Malinga and Rohit Sharma will share a mega milestone with Mumbai Indians. They will be playing their 100th game with us. Rohit has been unlucky with a couple of umpiring decisions, while Malinga found his footing in his first game. They will look to celebrate the centenary with good performances.

Stage:

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Mumbai Indians’ campaign at home got off to a motivational start. The pitch played true throughout the 40 overs, but there was some turn on offer. The boundaries may be short, but if the ball turns off the good areas, batsmen will have to be a bit careful with their shot selection.

Acts:

Malinga vs Warner & Dhawan:

Lasith Malinga chipped in with some late wickets, but he would ideally want to get one early against a dangerous SRH top order. Slinga has a very good record against left-handed batsmen and it would be great if he can get rid of Dhawan and Warner early in the innings. He averages just 14.43 against left-handers, 5 runs lesser than his average against right-handers. More interestingly, Malinga has dismissed Dhawan four times, while he has got Warner twice.

Harbhajan Singh vs Yuvraj Singh:

The ‘Singhs’ have been the face of Indian cricket since the early 2000s. They are both in their mid-30s now, but still have the fire in them. Bhajji bowled beautifully against KKR, while Yuvi batted with flair against RCB. When they face off, there may not be an exchange of words, but there will be a lot of natural aggression between the two of them.

Our batsmen vs Rashid Khan:

We have an Afghani sensation in the IPL this season. Rashid Khan has been very impressive in his first two games and is the Purple Cap holder at the moment. The leggie’s variations have caught many batsmen off-guard. It will be interesting to see if our boys take him on or treat him with caution on the Wankhede pitch.

Stats:
•    Rohit Sharma & Lasith Malinga will be playing their 100th game for Mumbai Indians.
•    Lasith Malinga has 55 wickets against left-handers in the IPL – the most by any bowler.
•    Rashid Khan has been unplayable in T20s in 2017. He has picked up 23 wickets in 10 games at an average of just 7.34 and a miserly economy rate of 4.92