Cricket Indian Premier League Prediction

Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Titans - Match Preview

🏏 12 May 2023 - 18:00 GMT +0

“Write off Mumbai Indians at your own peril,” some declared after a severely undermanned Mumbai attack took just five total wickets across their first two games to be duly humbled by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings. The culture instilled in the franchise from the top down, which has produced a record five titles since 2013, has blossomed once again in the form of six wins from nine matches since to be right back in playoff contention.

In fact, they took an enormous jump from eighth to third with yet another successful 200+ run chase, this time avenging that first loss to RCB earlier in the season whilst making a statement to those who awaited their challenge. Mumbai has now scored 200 runs four times when batting second, three of them in victories. Key batters Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav are finding form at the right time of year, whilst 22-year-old Nehal Wadhera is stepping into the fast-scoring roles once occupied by Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard.

The only missing piece of the puzzle as far as their batting is concerned is an opening partner for Kishan, who can keep up with his contributions. Out-of-sorts captain Rohit Sharma is on a run of five consecutive single-digit scores - the longest of his 233-inning IPL career - after briefly dropping down to number three before returning to the top against RCB. As they continue to lament the worst economy rate (9.68rpo) of the season and a bowling average of 50 during the powerplays, Mumbai will likely need all of their batters to step up during the tougher parts of the season if they are to hang on for their first playoffs appearance since 2020.

The difficulty is likely to ramp up immediately when defending champions and tournament favourites Gujarat Titans return to the city where they won ten of 14 regular season matches in their debut campaign last year. The Titans won three of their four games at Wankhede Stadium in their title-winning year and should therefore have no issue with its surroundings, even if they did lose to Mumbai in the nearby Brabourne Stadium last year.

Gujarat consigned that result to history with Mumbai’s biggest loss of 2023 (by runs) in Ahmedabad when piling on 207/6 before restricting Rohit’s team to just 152 runs. The day belonged to the Afghan spin pair of Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan, who combined for five of the eight wickets taken by the bowlers and between them have returned Gujarat’s best figures in six of 11 games so far this year. Gujarat finished the 11th round of matches three points clear at the top of the table, with a standout Net Run Rate that likely cannot be surmounted.

It was almost as though star Irish bowler Josh Little never existed in their previous outing when they accounted for the Lucknow Super Giants by a mammoth 56 runs, piling on the highest score of their brief history (227/2) before Mohit Sharma picked his second four-wicket haul in IPL cricket with the crucial wickets of Kyle Mayers and Marcus Stoinis. The fact that Little’s replacement (West Indian quick Alzarri Joseph) did not have any involvement until the 20th over of the run chase speaks volumes about the shape that Gujarat’s bowling attack is in, whilst they’d also be delighted to see wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha back in the runs with scores of 41* and 81 after a poor first half of the season.

⚡ Players to watch: Mumbai as a team is a level above when Suryakumar Yadav is at his world-class best, and his 35-ball 83 in their last outing was his third half-century from five home games this season. He has 239 runs at a rate of 12 runs per over at the Wankhede in 2023!

One batter who doesn’t seem to enjoy the Wankhede pitch is Gujarat opener Shubman Gill, who has 68 career runs from eight IPL innings there at an appalling average of 8.50 (best: 22).

📋 Stat attack: Mumbai batted second in five of their six wins this year.

• The average first innings score at the Wankhede Stadium this season is 193.
• Chris Jordan has career economy rates of 11.78 against Hardik Pandya (3/106, 10x 6s) and 10.42 against David Miller (3/92, 5x 6s) in all T20s.
• Piyush Chawla conceded 100 runs from his 10.1 overs bowled to Wriddhiman Saha at an average of 33.33.
• Chawla returned Mumbai’s best bowling figures in five of their last nine games.
• Rashid Khan has dismissed Rohit Sharma three times from 21 balls bowled for just 23 runs conceded.
• However, against the pairing of Suryakumar Yadav and Tim David, Rashid had career figures of 0/104 from nine overs!