IPL 2018, MI vs SRH: Sunrisers Hyderabad probable playing XI against Mumbai Indians

Losing two close contests on the trot have left SRH travelling with commoners although they set off with a first-class ticket. Gayle's storm and Rayudu's blitzkrieg snatched wins from their doorstep, increasing their desperation to win the next one against the Mumbai Indians. Maintaining their tag of slow-starters, the defending champions have also lost their matches in nail-biting fashion.

There hasn't been much experimentation by the SRH captain, Kane Williamson, with this powerhouse of a team so far. While he tried out Chris Jordan in Billy Stanlake's place and had to bring in Ricky Bhui for the injured Shikhar Dhawan recently, the rest of the team has remained quite the same.

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Looking to regain their dominance, this is how the team could line up against Mumbai -

If Shikhar Dhawan remains unavailable owing to his injured elbow, the team have two uncapped options in Ricky Bhui and Tanmay Agarwal to replace him. After the former failed to add runs to the board in the match against CSK, the latter can be picked based on his experience of opening the innings for his first-class team (Hyderabad). He will be obviously joined by the skipper, Kane Williamson, who has been riding on some great form. His blistering 51-ball 84 was one of the reasons SRH got close to the target against CSK.

The openers will be followed by a mix of classy, explosive and experienced players in the middle. Manish Pandey, having scored a half-century in only one of the matches, hasn't put his best foot forward. Yet, given his record with the national side, he is dependable in this position.

The likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan have added to the team's strength immensely. The Bangladeshi all-rounder has been handy with the bat and the ball. Pathan, while he starts off his innings looking a little weary, gets down to bashing the balls around the park once he settles down. Deepak Hooda concludes this array of dependable all-rounders. Nothing extraordinary to pinpoint, but the man has had a decent season so far with the ball and the bat.

Getting to the bowling department, Rashid Khan is the lone spinner and can take the battle to the Mumbai batting. Having been hit for 55 and 49 runs in the two previous matches, the ace leggie ought to get his game together and begin his race for the purple cap.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is out for the game with a back niggle, which could force the return of Sandeep Sharma to the pace attack. Being the only feature from the Sunrisers team in the top 10 leading wicket-takers list, Bhuvi's absence will be felt dearly. Joining him would be the domestic star, Siddharth Kaul and the Aussie quick Billy Stanlake. Experimenting with Jordan didn't cost the Hyderabad team much but they opted to get back Stanlake in the previous match.

Thus, to conclude, Dhawan's absence is the only challenge the team will be faced with before the contest at the Wankhede. A powerful start against the defending champions will depend on how his replacement performs.

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