"I feel Mumbai will win the match" - Harbhajan Singh on LSG vs MI, IPL 2023 Eliminator
Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh believes Mumbai Indians (MI) will have enough experience to overcome the challenge posed by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Eliminator of the IPL 2023 season on Wednesday, May 24.
Harbhajan also opined that the toss will be a crucial factor as the side chasing could be under a lot of pressure on the slow track in Chepauk. However, he spoke about the number of big-match players that MI have in their ranks and feels they will pull through this challenge.
In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Harbhajan Singh had to say about Mumbai Indians:
"Winning the toss will be crucial in this game since that will give the advantage. But just as Chennai showed, big teams also have the ability to hold their nerves in big moments and so I feel Mumbai will win the match."
Harbhajan also shed light on how not many believed him when he had predicted MI to make it to the playoffs. He said:
"When I had predicted earlier that Mumbai will make it to the playoffs, people said I am doing it only because I played for them. But the reality is I never had doubt in their ability even when people wrote them off. They are a team peaking at the right time and will be tough to beat."
Harbhajan Singh on the Chennai pitch
Harbhajan Singh feels that while both Mumbai and Lucknow would prefer chasing, the pitch at the Chepauk will only get slower as the game progresses. This made him believe that batting first would be a great advantage after winning the toss.
On this, Harbhajan stated:
"Normally the teams would want to win the toss and chase to have an idea of the score in front of them. However, this pitch is different and I feel batting first and putting runs on the board will put the opposition into trouble.
"So both teams may think of winning the toss and putting a score of around 180 runs on the board. Lucknow have quality spinners like Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya and Mumbai will also need to figure out their options."
MI are yet to beat LSG in the history of the IPL, with the Krunal Pandya-led side winning all three encounters so far.