Sharjah: Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday won the toss and elected to bat in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 match against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. With the early dismissal of 'run machine' Rohit, MI could score 208 runs at a loss of 5 wickets.
"We will bat first. It has been our strength and we will back that. It is a good pitch and the toss doesn't really matter," said Sharma. "The game against KKR was also a perfect game. We have seen few games here, you have to believe and trust your instincts when you play in grounds like these. We are playing the same team," he added.
Mumbai Indians were dented early after losing Rohit Sharma in the first over of the match. Sandeep Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s replacement, dismissed Rohit. After three dot balls, Rohit hit a six in the first over. However, he chased a wide ball and nikced it to the keeper. It was given a wide but Jonny Bairstow was convinced there was an edge.
Related Story: IPL 2020: Mumbai Indians Have Edge Against Sunrisers Hyderabad
Siddarth Kaul picked up his 50th IPL wicket dismissing Suryakumar Yadav.
Manish Pandey pulled off a stunning catch at long-on to dismiss Ishan Kishan, moments after Rashid Khan dismissed the dangerous Quinton de Kock. De Kock scored a half-century off 32 balls and put on 78 off 44 balls with Ishan Kishan.
The onus is on Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya to finish the innings on a high for Mumbai Indians.
Krunal Pandya hammers 20 off 4 balls (2 fours, 2 sixes). 21 runs come off the final over of the innings as Mumbai Indians finish on a strong total of 208/5.
The Indian Premier League 2020 is in for another cracker of a contest as two formidable sides in MI and SRH are set to do battle in Match 17 of the tournament. The Sunrisers, led by David Warner, will have no shortage of confidence coming off successive wins, but defending champions MI have proven why they cannot be discarded even with defeats.
SRH have made two changes to their playing XI - Sandeep Sharma comes in place of injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur replaces Khaleel Ahmed.
"Definitely, we would have batted as well. We have seen some high totals here but it also gives a chance to the bowlers to pinch a couple of wickets," said SRH captain David Warner. "I think Bhuvi is a big loss for us. It is about making sure the bowlers are communicating and bowling in partnerships again. We have to do that well here today," he added.
Playing XIs:
Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan
(With Agency Inputs)