Match 57 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season will be played between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the table-toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. This is a crucial match for Mumbai, as a win would take them a step closer to sealing their spot in the IPL 2023 playoffs. Gujarat, on the other hand, has all but qualified for the playoffs, and a win will arguably cement their place in the top two which means they will be playing Qualifier 1.
MI’s batting line-up made an absolute mockery of their run chase against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their previous matches. However, they struggled badly against the Titans when the two teams last met in Ahmedabad. This makes certain match-ups in the game pretty interesting and potentially crucial to determining who wins the game.
On that note, Let’s take a look at three such match-ups:
#3 David Miller vs Piyush Chawla
Piyush Chawla had an off-day against RCB, but there is no denying the way that he is MI’s best bowler this season. He will be aiming to make it difficult for GT star David Miller to survive. Miller is considered as one of the most consistent middle-order batters going around and Mumbai will need Chawla to control the southpaw. While bowling to Miller, Chawla has conceded just 36 runs in T20 cricket and has dismissed him twice. This could make skipper Rohit Sharma hold the leg-spinner back for when Miller comes to the crease.
#2 Ishan Kishan vs Mohammed Shami
Ishan Kishan coming into form is one of the biggest positive signs for MI. His blazing cameo of 42 against RCB was really needed for the hosts to ensure they got a flying start to their chase. However, he didn’t have a great outing against GT in Ahmedabad. He was particularly finding it difficult to play out the lethal swing and seam movement that GT pacer Mohammed Shami was generating.
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This makes the matchup between them one to watch out for. While Shami has never dismissed Ishan, he has conceded just 42 runs off 42 balls that he has bowled to the left-hander in T20 cricket. It will be interesting to see if Ishan Kishan once again goes down the route of counter-attacking or whether Shami makes it difficult for him with the new ball.
#1 Suryakumar Yadav vs Rashid Khan
Suryakumar Yadav scored his highest IPL score against RCB in the last game, as he amassed 83 off just 35 balls as MI helped the hosts dominate the chase of 200 with almost 4 overs to spare. GT’s star spinner Rashid Khan had a good outing against MI in the reverse fixture, but there was a certain phase where ‘SKY’ dominated him. Yadav has scored 50 runs in 37 balls against Rashid and is yet to be dismissed in T20s. If Mumbai is to avoid the threat from the GT spinner, they will bank on SKY to keep him at bay.
