For match 9 of the IPL 2022, the underfire Mumbai Indians will meet the high-flying Rajasthan Royals at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Rohit Sharma’s side suffered a shock defeat against a depleted Delhi Capitals unit. After bossing and being ahead for about three-fourths of the game, MI lost the plot to a thunderous assault from Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav, failing to defend 178 and losing with 10 balls to spare.
Sanju Samson’s team comes from Pune high on confidence after becoming the first side to successfully defend a total this season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The RR skipper led from the front with a sizzling fifty while other batters around him contributed to the total of 210. Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, and Yuzvendra Chahal ensured RR won by a massive margin of 61 runs!
Venue: DY Patil Stadium
Two matches have happened so far at this venue: one a high-scoring affair with Punjab chasing down 205 against Bangalore; the other a low-scoring encounter with RCB only crawling over to the target of 129.
This time an afternoon game between MI and RR, expect spinners to have a bigger impact than in the last two games here. Both teams have some big-name power players and could be a high-scoring contest.
IPL 2022: MI team news and predicted XI
Suryakumar Yadav has joined the side and begun his net practice. SKY will, if deemed fit for the game, slot in straightaway for Anmolpreet Singh, bolstering MI’s batting.
Australian fast bowler Riley Meredith may come in for the expensive Daniel Sams, which will however lengthen MI’s tail. Also, MI aren’t a franchise that would change after just one defeat.
MI predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Tim David, Daniel Sams/Riley Meredith, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Basil Thampi
IPL 2022: RR team news and predicted XI
RR’s punt of batting Devdutt Padikkal at number 4 paid off as the left-hander, who opened in all of his games for RCB, smashed 41 runs off 29 balls providing the platform for Hetmyer.
RR, though, are fretting over the fitness of Nathan Coulter-Nile who walked off after bowling three overs. James Neesham is a ready replacement available in the RR squad and the Kiwi will further increase their firepower.
IPL 2022: RR predicted XI
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, James Neesham, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna
