Gujarat Lions and Mumbai Indians will come up against each other in Match 35 of VIVO IPL 2017.
The two teams had earlier faced off in Mumbai this season. It was the MI team that had come out as the winning team. Skipper Rohit Sharma had led the team from the front; and it was the first game of the season when Rohit had got into the double digits. A lot has changed since then for both the teams; hence it would be unfair to call a team as favourites to win this one.
Gujarat Lions have three wins from eight matches a the most-recent of them against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday night. The Lions had a largely forgettable first half of the tournament a winning just two of their first seven matches. But if they want to be contenders for playoffs, now is the time for themAto start stitching together wins.
The bowling department has been the teamas Achilles heel. In the previous match against RCB, the bowlers did exceptionally well to restrict a formidable RCB line-up to 134.AThey seem to have found a good balance when it comes to their overseas players; with Brendon McCullum, Andrew Tye, Aaron Finch and James Faulkner playing their parts well.
The Mumbai Indians were marching in some fashion towards the playoffs. With 6 consecutive wins this season, they had emerged as the team to beat in the tournament. However, their storming march was halted midway when the Rising Pune Supergiant stunned them in the previous encounter. Despite the defeat, the MI camp would back themselves against the Gujarat Lions at Rajkot in their next fixture.
One of the more balanced outfits with all bases covered, Mumbai’s primary aim will be to get two more wins as quickly as possible. This will all but ensure a smooth passage into the playoffs.AMitchell Johnson has been reasonably good in the two matches he has played so far. He should continue to keep Lasith Malinga out of the XI for this match as well. It will not be a bad idea to replace Kieron Pollard with Asela Gunaratne. Pollard has played a couple of good innings in this match, but has barely bowled. Gunaratne can not only use the long handle to good effect, but can also bowl four quiet bowlers.
Head to Head :
Matches – 3
Gujarat Lions – 2, Mumbai Indians – 1
Probable Lineups:
Gujarat Lions
Suresh Raina (c), Ishan Kishan, Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dinesh Karthik (wk), James Faulkner, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Andrew Tye, Basil Thampi, Nathu Singh.
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Jos Buttler, Nitish Rana, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah.
