The Mumbai Indians would be looking to salvage some pride going into their game against playoff contenders Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL face-off at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Monday.
The Hardik Pandya-led outfit are at rock bottom after a campaign that has gone awry with just three wins and eight losses out of the 11 games played so far.
To make matters worse, the manner of their defeat in the previous game left a lot to be desired as they failed to chase down a target of 170 on a Wankhede pitch where batting does get a lot easier in the second half of the evening.
With the exception of Suryakumar Yadav, who slammed a creditable half-century, the rest of the MI batters flopped and would be eager to regain some form against SRH, who are pumped up after a nerve-wracking one-run win against Lucknow Super Giants in their last game.
Pandya’s leadership has come under a fair amount of flak with former cricketers questioning his tactics during the game.
The MI skipper, who switched on a record transfer fee from Gujarat Titans, has been under immense pressure with the fans disenchanted with the replacing of the five-time IPL-winning captain Rohit Sharma.
As the defeats piled on, Pandya has been struggling to get the team’s fortunes going and the campaign has fluttered in the process.
However, there is sound backing for Pandya among the young MI batters like Naman Dhir, who vouched for his backing.
” He always backs every youngster and supports me in batting and bowling. He is a very good guy,” Dhir added.
With the Playoffs out of their reach now, the Mumbai Indians might rest a few key players and test their bench strength. However, Dhir is not very sure about that happening.
“Right now there is no such plan. It is upto the management what decision they take with regard to the playing XI. Even me playing tomorrow (Monday) remains to be seen, it will get confirmed tomorrow (Monday) only,” he added.
Looking back at their defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders, Dhir felt it was a match that they should have won and there were no demons in the pitch as such.
” It wasn’t a surprise as such. The wicket was a bit damp when we were batting but overall it was a good batting wicket. I think we did not bat as well as we should have and we should have chased down the target. Wankhede everyone expects a good batting track.
The Sunrisers, who are currently fourth on the table, would be looking to put it across MI and strengthen their chances of reaching the Playoffs with four matches to go.
After their thrilling one-run victory against Lucknow Super Giants, SRH would be in a great mindset to go out and execute their plans.
“It has surely given us a psychological boost. When the game went to the last couple of overs and to get over the line. For us, we were lucky that we were on the right side of it. It gives us a positive boost. It’s definitely given us a gift,” he added.
