It is no stranger to poor starts. But the Indian Premier League’s 17th edition has been stranger than ever before Mumbai Indians. Amidst all the uproar over the change in captaincy, it will be banking on Suryakumar Yadav to mark his arrival in style against Delhi Capitals on Sunday and give MI the much-needed fillip.
Suryakumar has been out of action for almost four months, having recovered from an ankle injury and sports hernia surgery. The 360-degree batter rested from Saturday’s optional training session but sweetly timed the ball to all the corners of the Wankhede Stadium during his prolonged stint on Friday afternoon.
MI management – facing flak for its alleged mishandling of captaincy transition from Rohit Sharma to Hardik Pandya – will be hoping for Suryakumar to ignite its campaign after the team’s three consecutive losses so far in the tournament.
MI will know time is running out for staying in contention for a place in the playoffs.
Ditto is the case with Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals, which is placed second-from-bottom – one place ahead of MI – in the points table.
Injury concerns
While MI camp has a reason to rejoice in Suryakumar’s availability, the Capitals are dealing with injury concerns to its three main bowlers.
Kuldeep Yadav is unlikely to be available due to a groin injury, while Mukesh Kumar underwent a prolonged fitness test after missing the last game. To add to its woes, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh will be unavailable for Sunday’s game after hurting himself in DC’s last outing.
Will Pant revive Capitals’ campaign after being blown away by KKR? Or will Suryakumar turn the heat on? Over to Sunday afternoon!
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c&wk), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Tristan Stubbs, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Swastik Chikara, Shai Hope.
Time: 3:30PM IST.
