West Indian Fabien Allen is set to make his MI debut. West Indies captain Kieron Pollard hands him his first MI cap.
LSG aim to bounce back!
After three straight wins, LSG lost to RR by three runs in their last match. They will hope to bounce back immediately, against Mumbai, to get their campaign back on track.
Tim David to return!
Apart from their form, some of the decision making from Mumbai has also been baffling. One of them has been dropping Rs 8.25 crore buy Tim David after two games. MI haven’t been able to play their full quota of overseas players to have enough bowlers in their sides but David is expected to return today in place of Jaydev Unadkat.
Points table watch!
Gujarat Titans are at the top with eight points from five matches. RR and PBKS are second and third respectively with six points each. KKR are fourth and LSG are fifth. Both teams also have six points each. Followed by RCB (6 points), SRH (6 points), DC (4 points), CSK (2 points) and MI. Mumbai are the only side to not have any points so far.
Watson slams MI for spending over Rs 15 crore on Ishan Kishan!
“It hasn’t surprised me that Mumbai Indians are at the bottom of the table because they had a shocking auction,” Watson said during a conversation in ‘The Grade Cricketer’ podcast. “Spending so much money on Ishan Kishan…He is a very talented and skillful player, but he’s not worth blowing nearly your whole salary on. And then, going for Jofra Archer, not knowing whether he is going to come back in. He hasn’t played cricket for quite a while. They have got quite a few holes in the team.”
Focus on Krunal and De Kock!
Krunal Pandya and Quinton de Kock were not retained by Mumbai Indians. And today they have an opportunity to show their former side exactly what they are missing. While Mumbai have struggled this season, Krunal and De Kock are have made match-winning contributions to LSG who are fifth in the points table.
Is it all over for MI?
In the 2014 season, after losing the first five games, Mumbai Indians still managed to qualify for the playoffs with seven wins from the next nine games. In the 2015 season, they went on to win the title after losing five out of the first six games. They have done it in the past. The question is, can they do it again?
Let’s start our coverage with the squads:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Jaydev Unadkat, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Basil Thampi, Fabian Allen, Daniel Sams, Tim David, Riley Meredith, Anmolpreet Singh, Sanjay Yadav, Ramandeep Singh, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal, Hrithik Shokeen, Rahul Buddhi, Arshad Khan, Arjun Tendulkar
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Jason Holder, Krishnappa Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Dushmantha Chameera, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Manish Pandey, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Kyle Mayers, Evin Lewis, Ankit Rajpoot, Andrew Tye, Mohsin Khan, Karan Sharma, Mayank Yadav
Welcome to our live coverage of the Mumbai Indians vs Lucknow Super Giants match. Mumbai are aiming to end their losing streak and clinch the first win of the season while Lucknow Super Giants need a victory to get back to winning ways. This should be a cracking contest!