SRH look to bounce back against inconsistent MI

Plagued by injuries and poor form, hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to quickly get their act together to bounce back from the twin defeats when they clash with defending champions Mumbai Indians in an IPL T20 match here on Monday.

The Hyderabad team has been left to deal with the injuries to its crucial players, including Yuvraj Singh, Kane Williamson and Ashish Nehra and lost both their matches against Royal Challenger Bangalore (by 45 runs) and Kolkata Knight Riders (by 8 wickets).

In the absence of the injured players, the poor form of its opener Shikhar Dhawan has been a matter of concern to the SRH, but Eoin Morgan’s 43-ball 51-run innings in Saturday’s match against Kolkata will come as a big relief for the hosts. Naman Ojha also fought hard against KKR with a useful 37 runs and the wicket-keeper batsman will look to step up the gas on Monday.

Much would depend on Captain David Warner, Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Morgan and new acquisition Deepak Hooda and Ojha who are expected to put a competitive total on the board to make it difficult for the rivals.

Though it missed the services of the seasoned Nehra, Sunrisers have some competent bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, young Mustafizur Rahman, Karn Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun and Barinder Sran, who will look to deliver the goods on Monday.

Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, have won only one of the three matches they played so far and a win is crucial for the side to put its campaign back on track. The Mumbai side, which turned around after a string of losses last year, lost to the new IPL team Rising Pune Super giants in their campaign opener in Mumbai on April 9.

It, however, came back strongly to post a thumping six-wicket win over Kolkata on April 13 in Kolkata but again suffered a setback on its home ground with another new team Gujarat Lions last night.

Mumbai would look up to Rohit Sharma, who played a captain’s knock with an unbeaten 84 against KKR, big-hitter Kieron Pollard, New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenaghan and new England recruit Jos Butler to make life difficult for the hosts on Monday.