Mumbai Indians face a crunch fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad needing a win to qualify for the IPL 2023 playoffs, but they also need to ensure a victory by more than 79 runs to ensure that their net run rate is more than that of Royal Challengers Bangalore who will be action against Gujarat Titans as RCB also chase the remaining one spot for playoffs.
Rajasthan Royals are also in the fold should Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore lose their respective matches on Sunday and thus it makes an intriguing three-way playoff race with just one berth available. Quizzed about the same, MI skipper Rohit Sharma insisted that his side were not worrying too much about the net run rate, instead they were focused instead on ensuring a victory to pick up the crucial two points.
Rohit won the toss and opted to bowl first, while it was a day game, given the five-time IPL champs’ death bowling woes, they were looking to chase and give their batters a chance to finish the game quickly and beef up the NRR.
MI vs SRH LIVE, IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians Win Toss, Opt to Bowl First Against Sunrisers Hyderabad
The 36-year-old admitted that there was talk about the ‘manner in which they need to win’ in the dressing room and all the players know what’s expected of them.
“We are gonna chase. Just the nature of the pitch. It is a little dry as well. Whatever it has to happen will happen in the first innings. Shokeen is not playing. Kartikeya is in. It is a tricky one. We just want to win the game and not think about how to do it,” said Rohit after winning the toss.
He insisted that MI are not looking forward too much, instead, they just wanted to ensure two points and by batting second, they will have a chance of finishing the game by a big margin if they can restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to a small total.
“Winning gives us a chance. Not looking too far ahead. We have talked in the team meeting what to do. We have played an afternoon game before. We are aware of what the pitch and the conditions here. You just need to play well to win,” added the Mumbai Indians captain.
RCB will have the advantage of knowing by how much margin they need to win to better Mumbai Indians’ net run rate as they will be playing later in the evening, and not to forget, Faf du Plessis’ side already has a positive net run rate of +0.180 while Mumbai Indians’ net run rate is -0.128.
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