Rashid Khan will face Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma. Jofra Archer versus Hardik Pandya. Piyush Chawla vs. Wriddhiman Saha. And for the second time ever in the IPL, Rohit and Hardik will face off.
On Tuesday in Ahmedabad, the only two Indian competitors who have experienced victory in their first season as captains will square off.
Mumbai Indians dropped their first two games before winning their next three straight matches before losing to Punjab Kings in a high-scoring contest.
They are currently in seventh place on the standings with six points, while Gujarat Titans are in fourth place with eight points. And after four weeks, it’s difficult to choose a favorite.
Mumbai is a team with a strong batting lineup; its top six batters have more than 140 strikeouts so far this year. With Suryakumar Yadav and Cameron Green doing well in recent games, Rohit will be happy with their middle order, which also features the aggressive Tilak Varma and Tim David.
The same cannot be true about their bowling division, though. Chawla has bowled the most innings for Mumbai, taken the most wickets (nine), and also has the best economy rate (6.86) for his team (minimum two games).
However, the remaining players, who have participated in two or more matches this season, have a run rate leakage of over nine runs per over.
On the other hand, Mohammed Shami and Rashid have helped the Titans bowl well, which is why they have done well. 22 of the 40 wickets the Titans have taken in six games have been taken by the two of them combinedly. In his nine overs after his return, Mohit Sharma has bowled at an astounding economy rate of 4.66.
Titans have lost two of their three games in IPL 2023 even though they are returning to their home field. They’ve only lost at home, in fact.
Even though they didn’t work well together as an opening duo in the batting lineup, Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha both contributed individually.
The Titans haven’t been able to score easily in the middle overs, despite players like David Miller and Hardik contributing.
Of all the teams from overs 7 to 15, they have one of the lowest run rates at 7.37 runs per over. Mumbai would be eager to take advantage of this area in a matchup with a squad that shoots a lot in the final five.
Gujrat Titans Probable XII: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Hardik Pandya (capt), 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 Abhinav Manohar, 6 David Miller, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Josh Little/Noor Ahmad, 12 Jayant Yadav
Mumbai Indians Probable XII: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Cameron Green, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Tim David, 7 Arjun Tendulkar, 8 Hrithik Shokeen, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Jason Behrendorff/Riley Meredith, 12 Nehal Wadhera