Mumbai Indians hope to play for pride in its last game of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) season, against Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.
With its hopes of reaching the playoffs dashed, it will be an opportunity for MI to end its campaign on a high, whereas LSG’s chances of making the last-four, are extremely bleak even if it wins by a huge margin here.
With just four wins from 13 matches so far, at best, Mumbai Indians can finish with 10 points if it goes on to bag a win, whereas for LSG - with 12 points - three consecutive defeats have cost it dearly as its Net Run Rate (-0.787) also took a hit.
“Next year there is the mega auction, there are people who would want to impress and we are playing for our supporters. We have a lot to play for,” said Lance Klusener, LSG’s assistant coach.
ALSO READ | Once I’m done, you won’t see me for a while: Virat Kohli
Led by KL Rahul, LSG had a promising start, but as the campaign progressed, inconsistency in the batting department and lack of strong partnership led it to lose three of the last four matches.
MI, too, failed to get behind its new captain Hardik Pandya as collective failure in batting added to the woes. Though Jasprit Bumrah claimed 20 wickets, his colleagues couldn’t back him enough.
In two of the last three matches at the iconic venue, the team batting first went on to win the game, and both sides would hope to take lessons from that.
Comments
SHARE