Having entered the last quarter of the league stage, the Indian Premier League (IPL) may have started heading towards its business end. But the qualification scenario is far from being certain so far, with just five points differentiating nine of the 10 teams.
No wonder then that while the fans will be looking forward to Tuesday night’s tussle at the Wankhede Stadium as a faceoff between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both the teams involved will be eager to pocket two points and steer clear of the mid-table muddle.
Heading into the penultimate week of the league stage, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have 10 points each from as many games. Their inconsistency in both the departments reflects in the fact that they have five wins and as many losses each so far.
The visiting outfit will be hoping for its top-three, especially Glenn Maxwell who has continued to be hot and cold, to fire. Should Mahipal Lomror continue his superlative form from the weekend, it could give Kohli the license to up the ante in the middle-overs.
For Mumbai Indians, the promising Tilak Varma, who missed the last game due to a niggle, remained absent from Monday’s pre-match nets. Interestingly, Chris Jordan, the England all-rounder who has been with the entourage for a while but is yet to be officially inducted into the squad, had a long hit in the nets.
Should he be formally included ahead of Tuesday night’s game, MI will be looking forward to his death-overs bowling rather than big-hitting to come good against his former outfit.
Comments
SHARE