With just three wins from their nine matches and stuck down at the bottom of the table, things are starting to look pretty bleak for Mumbai Indians after an unsettled season.
Was was supposed to be a triumphant homecoming for Hardik Pandya has regressed into a battle to spare their blushes, with even RCB coming up behind them and close to overtaking them, leaving MI needing one of their famous run of wins to even threaten the top four, starting against Lucknow Super Giants.
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LSG vs Mumbai Indians Tips and Predictions
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma 30+ runs each
KL Rahul is one of the most consistent batters in IPL history, and once again he is putting up some good numbers - even if he is hardly setting the world alight.
The LSG skipper has 378 runs at 42 throughout the tournament and is on course for another 600+ season, of which he has done four times in the past six seasons (one of the seasons he didn’t pass 600, he made 593 runs). However his strike rate of 144.27 is somewhat lower when compared to other openers in the tournament, which is why people aren’t talking about him as much.
He is playing at the peak of his powers and has two half-centuries in his last three knocks, while Rohit, while a tad more inconsistent has also showed signs of playing better T20 cricket with the World T20 round the corner.
Despite two single-figure scores in his last two games, before that he had efforts of 49, 38, 105* and 36 so it shouldn’t be long before he makes another decent score.
Lucknow Super Giants to win
Given the form of the two sides, it is somewhat surprising that the Super Giants go into the game as second favourites.
They currently sit fifth in the table but could go up to third with a win, having lost their last game to Rajasthan Royals but beaten CSK in back-to-back games before that. In Quinto de Kock, KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran they have plenty of matchwinners with the bat, it is just with the ball where they have fallen down.
However in Ravi Bishnoi, Matt Henry and Mohsin Khan, they do have some dangerous bowlers who on their day could restrict Mumbai, the question is just whether the MI batting fires on the day.
They have a host of famous players hence their standing as pre-game favourites with the bookies, but they have failed to deliver hence their poor record so far this season and in particular it is their bowlers - Jasprit Bumrah apart - who have struggled to match the levels required in an IPL season that is being dominated by batters.
Tilak Varma to score 20+ runs, Coetzee to take 2+ wickets
It has not all been bad news for Mumbai so far this season. Tilak Varma is one player who can look at his own performances with pride so far, even if they haven’t contributed to as many wins as he would like.
At just 21 years of age he has been their most consistent player. In his last five knocks he has scores of 16*, 31, 34*, 65 and 63 all while batting in the notoriously tricky T20 spot of number four and recently, after an early collapse.
He appears destined for bigger things in his career so we expect that consistency to remain in his game, and on the other side of things Gerald Coetzee is another player with a big future.
The South African had a brilliant 50-over World Cup and while at times it hasn’t quite gone to plan in this year’s IPL, he still has 12 wickets in eight matches. He is an aggressive bowler so will always go for runs, but should offer a guarantee of regular wickets.
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