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IPL 2017: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians Preview

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The Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to consolidate their place in the top four when they welcome the all-conquering Mumbai Indians to the Rajiv Gandhi. 

There are only nine matches left in the IPL regular season with the battle for fourth place heating up. The Sunrisers Hyderabad currently occupy the final eliminator/qualifier place and will be desperate to consolidate that position when they host the table-topping Mumbai Indians on Monday.

Can David Warner and his charges put a bit of breathing space between themselves and the Kings XI Punjab in fifth or will the Indians condemn the Sunrisers to their third straight defeat? Let’s take a look:

SRH vs MI | Monday 8 May 2017 | Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad | 16:30

To Win Match
Sunrisers 21/20 | Tie 35/1 | Indians 82/100

Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Sunrisers’ alarming dip in form couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. With the Kings XI breathing down their necks and a tough encounter against the Mumbai Indians up next, the pressure is very much on the men from Deccan to pull something out of the hat.

Their home form had been solid all season until the Rising Pune Supergiant came to visit over the weekend. The Pune franchise could only manage 148 from their 20 overs after a solid performance from the Sunrisers’ bowling unit.

A weak chase resulting from a middle order collapse saw the Sunrisers concede their first defeat at home this season. They’ll need to remedy those issues going into their encounter with the Indians, who have only lost twice in all fixtures this season.

It’ll be very much a case of the Indians and their attack versus the Sunrisers top and middle order. David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson will be key to this. They’ll be desperate to get the measure of the Indians’ seamers during the Power Play and set some sort of platform up for the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha and Bipul Sharma later on.

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Mumbai Indians
The Indians are in cruise control at the moment and are all but assured of a place in the Qualifier, with a game in hand over everyone else in the chasing pack. They laid down grim marker last time out, crushing the hapless Delhi Daredevils by 146-runs to claim their tenth win of the campaign.

That victory was set-up by the batsmen with Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard catapulting the Mumbai franchise to 212-3. What followed was yet another alarming collapse from the Daredevils, who crumbled to 66 all out.

Having said that, the Sunrisers will provide a much sterner test to this Mumbai Indians side – especially at the Rajiv Gandhi where they’ve been so good throughout this season. Mahela Jayawardene will be hoping his bowling attack – in particular his seamers – can put the pressure on the Sunrisers’ top order.

We’ve seen how dangerous Warner and Williamson can be if given the opportunity to settle. If early inroads can be made bringing Yuvraj and Henriques to crease early on, the Indians can use the likes of Harbhajan and Karn Sharma to turn the screws in the middle overs.

Verdict: Sunrisers Hyderabad 21/20 
The Sunrisers will be desperate to win this match in order to put a bit of room between themselves and the Kings XI. You also need to take into account how good they’ve been at home this season, with the Rajiv Gandhi becoming something of a fortress. Back them – medium stake on – to come good against the Indians at 21/20.

Value Bet: A 50 to be scored in the match: No at 4/1
A bit of a left-field call, especially with the amount of big scores we’ve seen at this ground over the course of IPL10. I just think that with the quality in both of these attacks, we could see a low-scoring thriller. 4/1 isn’t a bad price for this bet. Small stake on!

Written by Jason Dewey for @Hollywoodbets.net

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