Five-time champions Mumbai Indians will need to outclass bottom-placed SunRisers Hyderabad in the last league match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Abu Dhabi on Friday, knowing fully well the tricky situation they have found themselves in their bid for a play-offs spot.

Mumbai Indians need to beat SunRisers Hyderabad by 171 runs in Sharjah on Friday.

If they bowl first, they can’t overtake KKR on the points table even if they win inside the first over.

Team Form

SunRisers Hyderabad: The SunRisers Hyderabad, who are already out of reckoning for a playoffs berth, will look to finish the tournament on a high. Skipper Kane Williamson was back among the runs and would be keen to start from where he left on Wednesday. With the addition of pace sensation Urman Malik, SRH have one of the best bowling attacks and the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan and Siddharth Kaul would have to be at their best to contain MI’s explosive batting line up.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma will have to lead from the front again. He has got starts but has not been able to convert them, and the great white-ball exponent would be itching for a big score. And so would be his opening partner Ishan Kishan, whose confidence would have been boosted from his unbeaten fifty against Rajasthan Royals. The team management would, however, be pleased with the performance of their bowlers, who had restricted Rajasthan Royals for a meagre 90 and are unlikely to tinker with the combination. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (19 wickets) was exceptional.

Match Details

Match 55: SRH vs MI

Venue: Abi Dhabi

Date & Time: October 8th at 7-30 PM IST, and at 6-00 PM local time

Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar

Pitch Report

The pitch in Abu Dhabi has been a good for batting in the IPL 2021. But in the previous game, batting was a tad difficult and the bowlers extracted a lot from the surface. Going by the result of their previous game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the SunRisers may not mind batting first.

Head-To-Head

Matches Played: 17

Mumbai won: 9

Hyderabad won: 8

Top Picks

Ishan Kishan: The wicketkeeper batsman answered his critics in a perfect manner with an unbeaten half-century against Rajasthan Royals. He scored his first half-century in this IPL and helped his side to gain a thumping victory by 8 wickets.

Umran Malik: SunRisers Hyderabad youngster is consistently clocking above 147kph. He even bowled the tournament’s quickest delivery against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 21-year-old right-arm quick got his first IPL wicket when he dismissed KS Bharat against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Predicted Playing XIs

SunRisers Hyderabad: Jason Roy, Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (c), Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Umran Malik

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar/Jayant Yadav, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah