With a place in the final up for grabs, Mumbai Indians would be fancying their chances against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. Akash Madhwal‘s breathtaking bowling performance against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator has given MI a much-needed boost ahead of the clash against the holders. GT, on the other hand, were outclassed and outgunned in Qualifier 1 by MS Dhoni‘s Chennai Super Kings. The Hardik Pandya-led side will have one last chance to gather themselves up and put their best foot forward in familiar conditions here in order to qualify for their second IPL final on the trot.
It will be imperative for the defending champions that their batting clicks in unison, since Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar have done bulk of the heavy lifting with the bat in the last few games.
The Titans will also expect more with the bat from their captain Hardik Pandya, who is going through a form slump, notching scores of 8, DNB, 8, 4 and 25 in his last five games.
For MI, the likes of Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav and Tim David have responded well to the challenges and now form the backbone of the batting department with the young Nehal Wadhera too making a huge impact, and the opening pair of Rohit and Ishan Kishan doing a fair job.
It will be a stern test for the Titans’ bowling attack, led by Mohammad Shami (26 wickets in 15 matches), to get the better of MI’s batting, which has improved drastically towards the business end of the tournament.
GT Predicted XI: Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya (capt.), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal
MI Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (capt.), Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Hrithik Shokeen, Chris Jordan, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal
(With PTI Inputs)
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