Mumbai Indians are placed third with 14 points from 12 games, while the Sunrisers Hyderabad are fourth with 12 from as many matches.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have a formidable task without batting mainstay David Warner when they square off against Mumbai Indians in a crucial IPL match in Mumbai, on Thursday.
The match is important for both teams as victory will bolster their play-off chances and defeat a step closer to the exit door.
Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals have already sealed play-off spots, while the other two slots are yet to be decided.
Currently, Mumbai Indians are placed third with 14 points from 12 games, while the Sunrisers Hyderabad are fourth with 12 from as many matches.
If Mumbai win on Thursday they qualify for the play-offs, while victory for Sunrisers will take them level on 14 points with the home side and both will have to wait longer to know their fate.
Warner, after scoring a staggering 692 runs from 12 matches, headed home to participate in Australia’s camp ahead of the World Cup, which begins on May 30 in England.
The void left by his departure will be felt and, in his absence, captain Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, all-rounder Vijay Shankar and comeback-man Wriddhiman Saha will have to shoulder the responsibility.
The SRH bowlers have performed well in patches and need to get their act together against Mumbai’s strong batting line-up. Mumbai have been well-served by South African Quinton de Kock (393 runs from 12 matches) and captain Rohit Sharma (307 from 11) at the top.
In hard-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya (355 from 12) and West Indian powerhouse Kieron Pollard (228 from 12), Mumbai possess two batsmen who routinely take the opposition bowling attack to the cleaners in the last few overs of the innings.
The likes of Surya Kumar Yadav and Krunal Pandya will need to convert starts into bigger scores against the multi-pronged SRH attack, in which Afghanistan's Rashid Khan (14 wickets) has been the standout performer.
Sandeep Sharma (12 wickets from 11 matches), Khaleel Ahmed (11 from 6) and the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar (8 from 12), along with the Afghan spin twins Rashid and Mohammed Nabi, provide quality to the SRH bowling attack.
The home side will miss left-arm Australian pacer Jason Behrendroff, who has also headed home to take join the World Cup camp.
Jasprit Bumrah (13 from 12), Lasith Malinga (12 from 8), Hardik Pandya (10 from 12) and spinners Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya form Mumbai’s backbone in bowling.
Mumbai have won only three of their home games out of the five played so far and do not enjoy the earlier aura of invincibility in familiar surroundings.
Squads (from):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shreevats Goswami, Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan, Wriddhiman Saha, Martin Guptill, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Ankul Roy, Evin Lewis, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ben Cutting, Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Jayant Yadav, Beuran Hendricks.
Match starts: 2000 IST.
