SRH have won the toss and have put the Mumbai Indians into bat going with the norm of IPL 2018, which has seen all captains wanting to chase down totals.
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However, SRH are without their talisman Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been ruled out of today’s encounter because of a sore back.
Bhuvi has been SRH’s most prolific wicket taker throughout the IPL and they will miss him direly against this strong Mumbai batting unit.
SRH have replaced Bhui with Sandeep Sharma, who is a like-for-like replacement, but doesn’t quite have the experience that Bhuvi has.
Sandeep can swing the ball both ways and can also bowl at the death, a skill set that was on display during his time with the Kings XI Punjab.
SRH would be hoping that he can rise to the occassion tonight and spice up that race for the Indian seaming spot in the SRH unit.
Kane Williamson revealed the news of Bhuvi’s injury at the toss.
“Going to bowl. Good surface for bowling so we need to bowl well first up. Unfortunately Bhuvi misses out, he has a sore back, so Sandeep Sharma comes in making his debut for the franchise, so that’s exciting for him. I suppose momentum is a reflection. We need to keep improving as a team. We started well but beating a side of Mumbai’s calibre isn’t going to be easy. No number in mind about what to chase. Last time it was a good surface but we were really good with the ball, so we just want to keep improving as a team; to go out there and perform.” said Williamson.
A cracker of a contest awaits us at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
