IPL 2017: Rising Pune Supergiants v Mumbai Indians, 5 factors of winning
In IPL, money isn’t everything. But, in IPL money isn’t ‘nothing’ either. That’s what the Mumbai Indians have proven to the world. Probably the most popular side in IPL after CSK, MI started out badly but under Rohit Sharma have settled down nicely with two trophies in their cabinet.
In fact, it was under Harbhajan Singh’s captaincy, that they managed to win the Champions League T20. However, under Rohit, they got their hands over the prized silverware beating none other than CSK, IPL’s powerhouse until they were suspended.
MI, who are as settled as a team in IPL can get, are pitted against IPL infants – Rising Pune Supergiants (don’t let the name deceive you) in their opener. They are far from being giants. Last season, they were in serious competition for the wooden spoon, finishing 7th eventually. This season, they have taken a massive gamble – replacing ‘Captain Cool’ MS Dhoni with Australia’s Steven Smith at the helm. The clash of MI and Pune Super Giant is sure to be an interesting one.
#1 With the bat
Mumbai Indians will rely on one of Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma to score a big at the top and then hope one of Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard fires lower down the order. Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons will be good buffers, but Simmons getting a game will be at the expense of one of the bowlers, where MI have Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell McClenaghan, and Tim Southee (with Lasith Malinga yet to join). It is hard to see how this team could fail unless Rayudu and Rohit fail consistently, which is hard to imagine.
Pune’s batting didn’t quite come through last year and this season, it is under pressure because of their bowling that looks to be on the weaker side. They’ll hope one of Steven Smith and Ajinkya Rahane gives them a start at the top before the likes of Dhoni and Ben Stokes can go berserk in the second half.
Dhoni is expected play more freely given he isn’t the skipper anymore. Stokes, on the other hand, is fiery and hates to lose. But the biggest plus for Pune is the calm head of Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s rock in many a battle. Technically, this contest will come down to Rohit/Rayudu/Buttler versus Stokes/Rahane/Smith. On paper, Super Giants are in good shape with the batting with Australia’s Usman Khawaja in the reserves.