Mumbai Indians will be looking to get off the mark in the IPL 2022 Points Table while Lucknow Super Giants aim to enter the top four again when both the heavyweights meet for the second time in the ongoing tournament on Sunday. The MI vs LSG match starts at 7:30 PM at Wankhede Stadium.
With seven defeats in as many matches, Mumbai Indians are winless this season and are languishing at the bottom with nothing going right for the five-time champions, who have failed to win the crunch moments and will need a miracle to make it to the playoffs.
Lucknow Super Giants, on the other hand, have looked in good touch with four wins from seven matches but they are coming into the match after suffering an 18-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, the fact that LSG beat MI by 18 runs in their first leg will give them confidence.
The KL Rahul-led Lucknow, who were at fourth until Saturday, got pushed to fifth after Sunrisers Hyderabad humiliated RCB to make their way to the second place. But LSG, who have a net run-rate of +0.124 can topple RCB (-0.472), whose NRR has taken a hit after being all out for 68 against SRH.
For Mumbai Indians, their biggest drawbacks have been the lack of form with the bat from openers Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma at the top and Kieron Pollard in the middle order. The defeat against Chennai Super Kings in their last match also handed MI the dubious record of becoming the first team in IPL history to lose its first seven matches in a season.
Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav have produced some good knocks, while young Dewald Brevis too shone in a few matches but a collective effort in the middle-order has been missing. In bowling, MI has mostly relied on Jasprit Bumrah even as the rest cut a sorry figure.
With their playoff chances virtually gone, all Mumbai Indians can do is to try and win the rest of the matches to finish in a respectable position at the end of the tournament. For LSG, skipper KL Rahul (265 runs) has led them from the front.
It was the same opposition against whom Rahul slammed an unbeaten 60-ball 103 the last time the two teams faced off on April 16 and will be eager to repeat the same on Sunday at Wankhede Stadium.
In bowling, the pace-spin duo of Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi have served them well with LSG having the luxury of some quality all-rounders such as Jason Holder and Marcus Stoinis. In the multi-talented duo, the new entrants have two powerful players who add a lot of depth in both bowling and batting.
