Back Shikhar Dhawan to top score for Hyderabad
With just three rounds to go in the league stage of the 2013 Indian Premier League, the battle for play-off places is hotting up, with second placed Mumbai hosting fifth placed Hyderabad. Richard O'Hagan has the odds on what could be a close contest.
Mumbai Indians v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Monday 13 May, 15:30hrs BST
Live on ITV4 and itv.com
Mumbai Indians
With just three rounds of matches to go Mumbai sit in second place, two points behind leaders Chennai. They come into this game on the back of a tougher than expected victory in Pune and will find Hyderabad, themselves chasing a play-off spot, a much different proposition. Captain Rohit Sharma again led the way in that match, top scoring with 37 after they had slumped to 39-3. Batting has been Mumbai's strong point so far this season, so it was surprising to see them struggle after a disciplined bowling performance had restricted their hosts to 112-8. Left arm spinner Pragyan Ohja was the only bowler to under-perform and might come under pressure from young Jasprit Bumrah for a place in this game, especially if all-rounder Glenn Maxwell keeps his place as the fourth overseas player.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Sunrisers maintained their surprising run of form in this season's IPL with a convincing win over Kings XI Punjab on Saturday evening. Their big problem now is that they are stuck in 5th place, one spot outside the play-offs, because they have a significantly inferior net run rate to everyone above them. This means that they either need to win all of their last three games, or win as many of them as possible as quickly as possible, in order to qualify. Taking wickets hasn't been a problem for them, and nor would you expect it to be for a side containing Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma and a seemingly-inspired Darren Sammy, but the scoring of quick runs has been an issue. It took a disciplined 61 from Parthiv Patel and some late order hitting from Thisara Perera to get their total up to something respectable on Saturday night. Look for the big hitters being pushed up the order in this game, for which Kumar Sangakkara may take back the captaincy reins from Cameron White.
Venue and Conditions
Mumbai have played six games at the Wankhede Stadium and won all of them. In a curious quirk, they have batted first in all of those games and only once has the margin of victory been by fewer than 41 runs. In five of the games their score has exceeded 170. It will be a cool evening by IPL standards, around 25 degrees, which might make batting second a little easier than it has been.
Match Odds
That winning record makes Mumbai strong favourites at 1.564/7, with Hyderabad not fancied at all at 2.56/4. This could be one to bet on after the toss, though, as Mumbai chasing against Steyn et al could be a more interesting proposition than these odds might suggest.
Top Mumbai Batsman
Sharma has be in superb form for Mumbai recently, overshadowing not only Sachin Tendulkar but also the man who was the early leader in the IPL run charts, Denesh Karthik. The odds on him won't be great, though. One man who has been pushing him close in home games is West Indian Dwayne Smith, who had a rare failure on Saturday as he was bowled first ball. Back him to come back from that at odds of around 4.77/2
Top Hyderabad Batsman
The Sunrisers need quick runs, so you can expect the likes of Perera and Sammy to be pushed up the order if they bat second. That might not happen if they bat first, though, so why not back the man who holds the record for the fastest debut hundred in Test cricket? Shikhar Dhawan hasn't been in quite that sort of form after breaking a finger in the same game, but he'll open the innings and is still a force to be reckoned with. Moreover, he's going to be a decent price at around 4.47/2
Recommended Bet:
Back Shikhar Dhawan at around 4.47/2 to be top Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman
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