IPL 2021: Match 9 – MI vs SRH – Mumbai Indians Predicted Playing XI

On expected lines, although with an unexpected comeback in the game, Mumbai Indians continued their KKR dominance, trouncing them by 10 runs in a hard-to-describe affair. The Indians have, time and again, proven why they are a champion side.

It takes incredible belief for a team to have that kind of an ability to bounce back even from the most depressing situations in the game and end victorious. With that done and dusted in the last game, a new challenge awaits Mumbai as they square off with David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad in the ninth encounter of the tournament.

While the Indians appear to have almost all of their bases covered, and a team with barely any concerns, there is one that has been evident in both of their encounters this year: batting in the death.

In the tournament opener, not only could MI only score just 25 runs in the last four overs but they lost half their side doing that. As if the return of 25/5 was not enough, they diminished further against KKR, where they scored 33/6 courtesy of a two-over-fifer from Andre Russell. Can they solve that against Hyderabad on the 17th?

Here’s the Predicted Playing XI of Mumbai Indians (MI) for IPL 2021 Match 9:

Openers – Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock

In for Chris Lynn in the previous game, Quinton de Kock perished for two runs in a 6-ball outing. On the other hand, after an unlucky run-out dismissal in the tournament opener, Rohit Sharma could not fire the way he would have liked to.

On a surface where batting was not the easiest, Sharma faced a slight bit of trouble in finding his strokes and making the ball hit the middle of his bat. Though he stuck around and went on to score 43, it took him 32 balls. Not his most fluent outing with the bat.

Middle-order – Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan

If there was one batsman who had no qualms while going for his strokes, it was Suryakumar Yadav. Making it appear as if he was batting on an entirely different track, Yadav smacked a 36-ball 56, including two sixes and seven boundaries.

However, his middle-order partner, Ishan Kishan, has not been able to fire so far. Having gotten a start against RCB, Kishan lost his wicket without capitalizing on it, whereas against KKR, he found the fielder almost immediately after he entered in. He got a run from three balls.

All-rounders – Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya

13 and 15, 7 and 15, 7 and 5 have been Hardik, Krunal, and Pollard’s scores in the two games thus far and Mumbai’s misfiring at the death can most straightforwardly be attributed to their all-rounder trio. Known for their big-hitting prowess, neither of them has been able to do that in the two games so far.

Coach Zaheer Khan has suggested that they are looking forward to Pollard as their sixth bowling option, and it remains to be seen if Hardik Pandya gets into the mix. He has not bowled a single delivery so far, while his brother has taken a solitary wicket in each game.

Bowlers – Marco Jansen, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

After an impressive debut against RCB, where he bagged a couple of wickets for 28 runs, Marco Jansen was unavailable to get any breakthrough against KKR as he returned with none for 17 from his two overs. Much like Jansen, Jasprit Bumrah returned wicket-less in a four-over spell of 28 runs.

The hero of the night for the Indians was Rahul Chahar in the middle overs and Trent Boult at the death. Chahar inflicted a collapse and bagged a wicket in each over to finish 4/27 before Boult claimed two wickets in the ultimate over and ensured that KKR failed to cross the line.