The Mumbai Indians have been carried by the performances of their young stars
The Mumbai Indians (MI) appear to have a bright future in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but their present has been catastrophically compromised. Winless in five games, the five-time champions need to win practically every future encounter to prevent the ignominy of failing to qualify for the playoffs in consecutive seasons.
In Match 26 of IPL 2022 on Saturday, April 16, MI will face off against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. LSG recovered from an opening loss to the Gujarat Titans (GT) by putting together a three-game win streak before narrowly falling to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their previous game. They’re delicately perched in fifth place, and while their net run rate isn’t a problem, a loss to the wooden-spoon holders could greatly hamper their campaign.
MI have a few positives to take away from their barren start to the season. Youngsters Tilak Varma and Dewald Brevis have belied their age, while Suryakumar Yadav has been in a league of his own since entering the playing XI. But the senior core – Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah – need to deliver immediately.
Meanwhile, LSG have been boosted by the arrival of Marcus Stoinis, who nearly pulled off a heist against RR while batting at No. 8. While their pace attack doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, they can be confident of turning in a complete bowling effort if Dushmantha Chameera and Jason Holder come up with a few early wickets.
IPL 2022 Match Prediction: MI vs LSG
Rohit Sharma has been a massive disappointment at the top of the order
MI will undoubtedly continue to make changes to their playing XI. Fabian Allen and Tim David are two quality overseas players who are currently warming the bench, with one of them bound to enter the fray at the expense of either Jaydev Unadkat or Basil Thampi. Tymal Mills has been expensive as well, and Riley Meredith could be in line to make his MI debut.
However, irrespective of the personnel they bring in, how will MI be able to counter a deep LSG batting linuep? The Super Giants had to shuffle a few things around in Stoinis’ return, with Krishnappa Gowtham and Jason Holder batting up the order. And while that didn’t work on the day, KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock are two players who will often ensure that the middle order can play freely without worrying about early powerplay setbacks.
With Rohit and Ishan Kishan not stringing together big partnerships at the top of the order, the MI middle order hasn’t been afforded the same freedom. Pollard will undoubtedly have to contend with the guile of Ravi Bishnoi and the pace of Avesh Khan, but he might find favorable match-ups against the rest of the LSG bowling attack.
Overall, despite MI being down in the dumps, this one is too close to call. LSG have a more balanced outfit and have been in better recent form, so they start as the favorites. But it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the five-time champions notch up their first points of the season.
Prediction: MI to win Match 26 of IPL 2022
