Mumbai Indian’s in this IPL 2017 season is looking unstoppable with their performance, as Nitish Rana, Krunal Pandya are the ones who took charge in most of the games for this experienced side.
Or I can say these two youngsters have impressed everyone and made Mumbai look indomitable lead this season. Since they lost against Pune in their first game they are yet to lose another one. Now they will be up against Pune side again.
For Rising Pune Supergiant it was not the best of the start for the side. They lost their initial games after winning the first one against Mumbai.
Now in the last two games, they seem to get back on the track as well. MS Dhoni, the biggest worry for them this season has finally shown up on the big stage. In the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he did what he use to do the best, a last-ball finish in favour of his team.
Overview-
MI- Mumbai Indians, most of the games they have played were at the Wankhede stadium, their fortress. This match is scheduled at their home ground, which is going to be a kind of added advantage to Mumbai Indians other than their recent form.
Excluding the last game, all the matches Mumbai won were while chasing. In the last game, batting first Mumbai looked uncomfortable against Delhi, though their bowling stood up to the challenge and did not let the match slip away from their hands.
RPS- Rising Pune Supergiant slowly and are steadily gaining back the momentum. Their star batsman MS Dhoni won them their previous two games, one with at and the other one with the gloves.
Against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Ab de Villiers’ wicket proved crucial for Pune and then against Hyderabad, MSD took charge and smashed 61 runs off 34 balls and finished the game on the last ball.
View On the Think Tank-
MI- When you are on the winning track, you just need to continue the good work and rather than making changes or doing something extraordinary or special. You just need to stick with your current plans because they are working in your favour. When your batting fails, your bowling did the trick for you and that is what happened in last game for Mumbai against Delhi.
RPS- Again for Pune as well, the last two games were the ones where they made changes in their bowling and were paid off. RPS will also look to stick with the same plan. With MS Dhoni gaining back the confidence is a good sign in favour of Pune for the upcoming championship.
Tracking the strength-
MI- For Mumbai Indians, this season is going good and each and every player is contributing for the team. Though they showed that chasing the target is their strength. Excluding the last game against Delhi, they have won all other five games while chasing only.
RPS- For RPS, their biggest weakness for this season has been their bowling and also the form of their star finisher MS Dhoni. In previous two games, they both looked bit sorted, as their bowling won them the game against RCB and MS Dhoni decimated Hyderabad alone. Now they have converted their weakness into their strength.
Head to Head-
Both teams have faced each other three times and twice Rising Pune Supergiant have won and only once Mumbai Indians found success. Pune’s win came this season as well when they faced each other in the second game of the tournament.
Predictions-
Predicting anything after the last game at the Wankhede stadium will be hard, though this ground is always a bliss for batting and is also good for chasing the target.
Both captains will be looking to bowl first and make the full use of the dew later on. Both teams are on winning streak so it will be an interesting encounter to watch out for the fans.
Pune is peaking at the right time and can prove a better team in this game as well. 190-200 would be a safe total to defend.
