Ricky Ponting predicts a face-off between Mumbai and Hyderabad in the IPL finals
"I like the trajectory SRH are on," Punter said but doesn't back them to win.
Australian World Cup winning captain Ricky Ponting revealed that he wants Mumbai Indians to play the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2017 final to be played this Sunday on May 21. Ponting has been a key member in the Mumbai Indians camp both as a player and a coach. During his stint as a coach, Mumbai went on to win the title twice in 2013 and 2015.
In this season of the IPL, MI have been unstoppable in the league as they have lost only 4 out of their 14 games in the round robin stages. Sunrisers Hyderabad has done enough to qualify for the playoffs. They have to win two more games to reach the final while Mumbai Indians will go through if they win the first Qualifier against the Rising Pune Supergiant.
Followed the team closely
Ricky Ponting in a recent interview stated that he has been following Mumbai Indians closely as he was associated with the franchise for a number of years.
“I’ve been keeping a closer eye on Mumbai than most of the other sides. With those couple of losses they had in a row, I was starting to worry about a bit of a trend (developing). But then they bucked that trend with a good win in their last game,” said the 42-year old former Australian captain according to cricket.com.au
“Knowing the environment in Mumbai, there is a lot of pressure on that team. They’ve seemed to manage that pretty well this year, only the four losses for the tournament (and) finished on top,” he further added.
Ricky also expressed his views on the chances of Sunrisers Hyderabad lifting the tournament. He suggested that the team would have essential match practice and momentum into the finals, provided they qualify for the finals.
“I’m a big believer in tournament play and trying to find a way to create that bit of momentum going into the finals. All the big World Cups and Champions Trophies I played in, that was always a focus of ours in the Australian cricket team,” quoted the Tasmanian.
“Not necessarily being at your absolute peak for the start of the tournament because trying to maintain that for eight of nine weeks of an IPL is near-on impossible..” concluded Ponting.
Sunrisers take on Kolkata Knight Riders in a cracking eliminator tomorrow at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The winner of the of eliminator play the losers of Qualifier 1 in Qualifier 2, to determine finalist of the IPL.
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