IPL 2017, GL vs MI: Face Off

Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Lions are at the opposite ends of the table almost mid-way through the 2017 season. The Mumbai outfit has done extremely well despite the indifferent form of their skipper and strike bowler.

The Gujarat Lions come into this game after an impressive victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their own backyard; a relief for the Suresh Raina-led team will be the improved showing from their bowlers. Bowling had been a huge worry for Gujarat from the start of this season but the current form of Andrew Tye, James Faulkner and Basil Thampi is very encouraging.

Extra Cover: IPL 2017 MI vs GL: Mumbai Indians (MI) today's probable playing 11 against Gujarat Lions (GL)

However, a close matchup between the two teams reveals just why Mumbai Indians are way ahead of Gujarat in the standings. We try to make a statistical comparison between the probable playing elevens of both sides and judge who comes out on top (purely IPL stats based).

Have a look at the table below.

Mumbai Indians	Gujarat Lions	Who's the winner?
Parthiv Patel Runs-2096, Avg-21.17, SR-115.23	Ishant Kishan Runs-112, Avg-12.44, SR-120.43	MI
Jos Buttler Runs-485, Avg-25.33, SR-145.65	Brendon McCullum Runs-2701, Avg-28.43, SR-130.86	Equal
Nitish Rana Runs-370, Avg-37, SR-136.03	Dinesh Karthik Runs-2732, Avg-24.39, SR-125.03	GL
Rohit Sharma Runs-3986, Avg-32.94, SR-131.25	Suresh Raina Runs-4407, Avg-34.7, SR-138.76	Equal
Kieron Pollard Runs-2157, Avg-28.76, SR-146.14	Aaron Finch Runs-1490, Avg-28.11, SR-128.78	MI
Krunal Pandya Runs-342, Avg-34.2, SR-170.15 Wkts-11, Avg-33.55, Eco-7.36	Ravindra Jadeja Runs-1627, Avg-23.24, SR-121.24 Wkts-81, Avg-29.37, Eco-7.75	MI
Hardik Pandya Runs-289, Avg-20.64, SR-145.23 Wkts-8, Avg-56.5, Eco-9.29	James Faulkner Runs-477, Avg-22.71, SR-142.81 Wkts-55, Avg-28.6, Eco-8.5	GL
Harbhajan Singh Wkts-124, Avg-26.6, Eco-6.94	Ankit Soni Wkts-1, Avg-28, Eco-9.33	N/A
Mitchell Johnson Wkts-53, Avg-26.45, Eco-8.14	Andrew Tye Wkts-12, Avg-11, Eco-6.6	GL
Mitchell McClenaghan Wkts-47, Avg-23.43, Eco-8.32	Nathu Singh Wkts-1, Avg-15, Eco-3.75	MI
Jasprit Bumrah Wkts-35, Avg-34.77, Eco-8.35	Basil Thampi Wkts-3, Avg-76.3, Eco-9.16	MI

*Players with very few IPL games aren't used for comparison and N/A applies to them.

MI 5-3 GL

As we see, Mumbai Indians have a clear advantage going into the clash given the plethora of talent at their disposal. The mix of experience and youth in the Mumbai line-up has made them strong contenders for another title.

Gujarat, on the other hand, will know that they are up against a top class outfit but will also be aware that in T20s a brilliant individual performance can change the fortunes of a team.