SIX! Rohit Sharma is away

Slightly short of length but it’s good enough for Rohit to plunder the first six of the game. What more, it’s the famous Rohit pull that brings Mumbai Indians’ first runs of the match.

Play and a miss!

Encouraging start for Sandeep Sharma as he beats Rohit Sharma first ball. Follows it up with two more dot balls, inswinging balls that Rohit plays defensively.

Rohit, de Kock walk out

 Right then. The opening pair of Rohit and de Kock haven’t put the kind of partnerships expected from them at the top. Expect that to change today. The bowler to start proceedings for SRH is Sandeep Sharma.

One Thousand Three Hundred Thirty One

Yes, that’s the amount of runs the Sharjah Cricket Ground has produced so far in IPL 2020. Mumbai Indians batsmen must be licking their chops. Great opportunity for Quinton de Kock to end his barren run and get a good score here. If not here, where will he?

IPL 2020 Live Score: After Rohit won the toss, he patted Warner on his shoulder

Explains how important it was to win the toss. David Warner says he would have loved to bat first too. “We have seen some high totals here but it also gives a chance to the bowlers to pinch a couple of wickets. 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 said.

Rohit Sharma explains reason to bat first

“We will bat first. It has been our strength so we are going to back that. It is a good pitch and as long as you play good cricket, the toss doesn’t really matter. Yes, but to be honest the game against KKR was also a perfect game. We put runs on the board and defended really well. We have a quality bowling line up which is why we back ourselves to come out and puts runs on the board. We have seen few games here, you have to believe and trust your instincts when you play in grounds like these. We know it is a small ground but it also gives the bowlers an opportunity knowing that the batsmen are going to come after them. We are playing the same team.”

Still no Chris Lynn as Mumbai Indians remain unchanged

1 Quinton de Kock (Wicketkeeper), 2 Rohit Sharma (Captain), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Ishan Kishan, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 James Pattinson, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Here’s what Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Playing XI looks like

1 David Warner (Captain), 2 Jonny Bairstow (Wicketkeeper), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Priyam Garg, 6 Abhishek Sharma, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Siddarth Kaul, 11 T Natarajan

Mumbai Indians unchanged, Sunrisers Hyderabad make 2 changes

Fast bowlers Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul are in. Out go Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed, who has done some damage to his groin.

TOSS: Mumbai Indians bat after Rohit Sharma wins toss

Rohit Sharma calls it right at the toss and pat comes his reply: “We’ll bat first, buddy”

IPL 2020 Live Score, MI vs SRH: Pitch Report

Simon Doull calls it a bowler’s graveyard. As he and Murali Kartik analyse the surface that will be used for play today, they can’t believe how flat it is. Kartik says there will be no spin for spinners, no movement for bowlers. It has a “Six-Fest” written all over it. Win the toss and opt to bat, Doull reckons.

Mumbai Indians: Explosive at the death

The Mumbai Indians batsmen have had a terrific outing when it comes to batting in the death overs. Between over 16 and 20, MI have hit the most number of boundaries – 33, among all eight franchises of the IPL 2020 so far.

Live Score, MI vs SRH IPL 2020: A match full of big hitters!

The Sunrisers Hyderabad-Mumbai Indians game is filled with stars. Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Nabi. It’s a long list. The small boundaries of Sharjah is just what these big hitters will look to conquer. In three matches at this venue, a total of 90 sixes have already been hit.

The Pandya, Pollard power for Mumbai Indians

In this interesting nugget, Hardik Pandya has a strike rate of 240 in the death overs while Pollard’s read 260. Still surprised why MI sent Pollard and Pandya in the Super Over?

Rahul Chahar ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal, Rashid Khan

Mumbai Indians leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has bagged six wickets from four games, which is one more than the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Piyush Chawla, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia and Murugan Ashwin, making him the leading wicket-taker by a spinner in IPL 2020.

Injury concerns for SRH

Besides Bhuvneshwar, questions also prevail over the availability of all-rounder Vijay Shankar. Provided neither is considered fit for today’s game, will Siddharth Kaul get to play his first game of the season?

Clash of two openers!

When you think of two of the most solid limited-overs openers of today’s generations, the names Rohit Sharma and David Warner come to mind. The two opening batsmen have come a long way since their verbal altercation in an ODI in Australia in 2015. Warner has mellowed since his 12-month ban, but his bat hasn’t. During the lockdown, the two openers even did a friendly Instagram Live chat. The one thing common between Warner and Rohit, besides being world-class openers is that Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians chances of winning shoot up when they score big.

Will Warner go big today?

With scores of 36, 45 and 28, it’s not as if David Warner has not gotten starts in the IPL, barring the first match where he was run out backing too far up at the non-striker’s end. The scenario couldn’t be better for Warner to strike big. He should fancy those small Sharjah boundaries.

IPL 2020 Live Score: Rahul Chahar threat for Warner?

So far, David Warner has been dismissed three times by a leg-spinner in IPL 2020. He was out to Piyush Chawla against CSK, Amit Mishra against Delhi Capitals and Varun Chakravarthy’s leg-break against KKR. Mumbai Indians have Rahul Chahar up their ranks and the management would be aware of Warner’s struggles against leg-spin.

Some interesting facts and trivia:

– Manish Pandey is 40 away from completing 3000 runs in IPL.

– Trent Boult is in line to play his 100th T20 match today.

– Rohit Sharma will join Suresh Raina as the second-most capped IPL player in history with 193 matches.

Will Chris Lynn replace Quinton de Kock?

In four matches, Quinton de Kock has had scores of 33, 1, 14 and 0, and it is likely that Mumbai Indians rest him to give Chris Lynn an opportunity at the top. Lynn was sold to MI for Rs 2 crore at the IPL auction last year and given his successful record for Kolkata Knight Riders, do not count out the possibility of seeing a new opening pair walking out today.

Rohit’s no so encouraging record against SRH

Rohit Sharma has starred with the bat in both the matches that Mumbai Indians have won. However, ahead of the SRH clash, a trivia might worry Rohit and his team, which is the skipper’s underwhelming record against the Sunrisers. Rohit has scored 217 runs at an average of 19.73. These are his worst returns against an active IPL team.

The Bhuvneshwar Kumar question

Will he play, or won’t he? Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled up twice during his run-up in the previous game against Chennai Super Kings and walked off the field with the team physio. Skipper David Warner said he “wasn’t too sure” whether Bhuvneshwar will recover in time for Sunday’s clash, and if that is the case, MI will start off with a big advantage.

IPL 2020 MI vs SRH: Record in the previous five games

If the previous five matches are to be taken into considerations, it’s the Sunrisers Hyderabad who edge Mumbai Indians by a game, leading the score 3-2, including a hat-trick of wins.

The last time MI and SRH went at it…

It was Match No. 51 of IPL 2019, in which Mumbai Indians tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad with both teams ending on 162/6. Quinton de Kock’s 69 led MI to the total and in response, Manish Pandey top-scored with 71 for the match to end in a tie. Come the Super Over, Mumbai Indians held their nerves and beat Sunrisers Hyderabad with Hardik Pandya hitting a six and helping MI chase nine runs with three balls left.

MI vs SRH: Head-to-head

In all the editions of the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians have faced each other 14 times, and as expected, there’s hardly anything to choose between them. SRH share a slight 7-6 record over MI, while one match ended in a tie.

Sunrisers Hyderabad not too far behind

The IPL 2020 campaign did not start on the best of notes for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who lost their first two matches to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. But two wins from two matches thereafter, against Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings have done their confidence a world of good, and the current team combination seems to be working for them. The 2016 IPL champions have shown early why they cannot be counted out at any time during the tournament.

Mumbai Indians’ story so far in IPL 2020

It will be tough to pick a favourite between these two sides, because there isn’t much to choose from their performance in the IPL 2020 so far. Defending champions Mumbai Indians started with a defeat to Chennai Super Kings before roaring back to comprehensively beat Kolkata Knight Riders. Against RCB, they lost a tight match in the Super Over and came back strong by defeating Kings XI Punjab by 48 runs. They haven’t allowed too many losses to build on them