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AB de Villiers has admitted South Africa’s senior batsmen are not pulling their weight in the one-day series against England

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's02-Sep-2012AB de Villiers has admitted South Africa’s senior batsmen are not pulling their weight in the one-day series against England, and singled himself out as a prime example, after the home side took a 2-1 lead at Lord’s following another unconvincing performance from South Africa’s top order.Since Hashim Amla made 150 in Southampton no South Africa batsman has posted a half-century in the next two games at The Oval and Lord’s and both innings have struggled for momentum despite solid opening partnerships from Amla and Graeme Smith. At Lord’s they slipped from 100 for 1 in the 25th over when Amla was bowled by Ravi Bopara, to 115 for 4 which meant rebuilding was needed, only then to lose their way again from 166 for 4 and finish their allocation eight down.As at The Oval the key moment came when de Villiers fell to James Tredwell, this time stumped with his foot on the line, and despite a forceful 31 off 20 balls by Robin Peterson they could not post a total to seriously challenge England.With Amla twice cut-off when set for sizable innings following his monumental display in the second match, South Africa’s batting has looked light in the absence of Jacques Kallis – rested for this series. While that was with a view to the World Twenty20, it is also giving South Africa the sight of a slightly uncomfortable future although de Villiers defended the talent available.”The guys who have come in, they can play,” he said. “I’ve seen them win matches for their teams back home on the big stage in finals and stuff like that. But they are inexperienced and when you have inexperience in your team you need the senior players to take control, including myself. Getting out for 20s and 30s isn’t good enough at this level it’s as simple as that.”We had the opportunity in our batting to kick on with some of our partnerships and that’s where we went wrong today. That’s two in a row and there’s a bit of pressure on our top order now. We’ve really got to step up to the plate and make it count – myself included. We got into nice partnerships but didn’t convert like England did.”While victory in this series is gone, South Africa do not want their batting to be dragged down ahead of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka; although Kallis will be back to bolster them. De Villiers said the players will discuss their problems before the final match at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.”We are under pressure and will have a batting meeting about where we can improve. I’d like to think the whole of the top six can play as a unit but we haven’t been performing well. Going forward we need more partnerships, that’s where you get momentum and we haven’t had enough of that. We’ve had one partnership in every game. There’s no excuse, the guys are batting in the places they feel comfortable.”For much of South Africa’s visit it has been the England captains fielding the tricky questions, but Alastair Cook was able to reflect on convincing back-to-back victories which have turned the series around after a poor performance in Southampton that threatened to engulf the final few weeks of the season.”Clearly after what’s happened this summer, we could have let our heads go down – a bit of a case of ‘here we go again’,” he said. “We admitted we didn’t get it right at the Ageas Bowl, and we’ve bounced back really well. We’ve still got a series to win but I’m very proud of what we’ve done this weekend in back-to-back matches. It’s an encouraging sign that after a heavy loss, we’ve stayed true to ourselves and played so well.”It was another far from faultless performance in the field with two catches put down and a clear run out chance missed, but the England’s bowler’s sustained pressure on South Africa’s struggling middle order throughout and rarely let the run rate get near five an over.”We didn’t quite get our rewards early,” Cook said. “A couple of chances went down but what was really pleasing was we stuck to our task, kept trying to apply pressure and picked up wickets at crucial times.”Cook also confirmed that the extent of Jonathan Trott’s hand injury, sustained after a blow from Dale Steyn early in his 48, will be known on Monday after the batsman has X-rays. Trott was in clear discomfort throughout the innings before falling lbw. If he is unavailable for the final match of the series it would open the door for Jonny Bairstow to finally get a chance to bring his impressive form to the 50-over side.

To hear Mitchell Starc described as “robust” by Australia’s pace bowling coach Ali de Winter may be a far more significant moment for the young left-armer’s future than any of the 14 wickets he’s plucked at the CLT20

Daniel Brettig23-Oct-2012Durability is among the most valued qualities in a fast bowler, and never more than during cricket’s present era of multiple formats and greedy scheduling.So to hear Mitchell Starc described as “robust” by Australia’s pace bowling coach Ali de Winter may be a far more significant moment for the young left-armer’s international future than any of the 14 wickets he has plucked at the Twenty20 Champions League.De Winter has returned to Australia from his stint helping nationally contracted bowlers to prepare as best they can for the looming home Test summer.He has done his best to minimise the effects of the aforementioned schedule, which had the likes of Starc, Ben Hilfenhaus, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood carted across to South Africa for the game’s shortest format only a matter of weeks before they must be ready for the rigours of its longest.Nevertheless, de Winter spoke with great optimism about the bowling stocks now before him, but was particularly glowing about Starc, who following a year of careful management and steady improvement across several tours and continents may be about to blossom into a first-choice member of Australia’s Test match bowling attack.”Mitchell Starc in particular has been outstanding,” de Winter said in Hobart. “He’s played a lot of cricket since the West Indies, he’s been to England and played the A tour, Yorkshire, through the UAE and he’s proved to be pretty robust for us, which is a good sign.”It’s a great problem to have that we’ve got a full bowling list at the moment. The challenge will be for the selectors to come up with the right mix for that first Test in particular. It is something we haven’t experienced for a number of years to have a full list of bowlers.”Starc’s time with Yorkshire during the English summer may be an important factor in the decisions around his readiness to take part in the Tests against South Africa. Hilfenhaus and Cummins are two other pace bowling options who have not bowled a red ball in a first-class match for quite some time. Hilfenhaus last did so in the West Indies in April, while Cummins must cast his mind back to the Johannesburg Test last November for his previous long-form encounter.”I think Hilfy and a lot of others have been a bit short of a run in terms of red ball cricket,” de Winter said. “We recognise that, but we’ve got some measures in place to make sure before that Test match they at least have one Shield game under their belt. The guys who have been here, James Pattinson and Peter Siddle have had an outstanding start to the year, so things are in as good a shape as they can be at this point.”The likely plan for Cummins will be to give him at least two Sheffield Shield matches for New South Wales before serious considering is given to pitching him back into the Test team, a schedule that would have him boarding a plane to Perth for the third Test against South Africa.”We’d certainly like to see him playing Sheffield Shield cricket first and get his workload up,” de Winter said. “Then it becomes a performance issue. Nobody’s a given to be selected in any Test match, but certainly he’s one who we’d like to see fast-tracked into Shield cricket and make sure when his opportunity comes that he’s as ready as he can be, understanding he’s still a teenager with a lot of growing and learning to do.”We’ll certainly manage our bowlers knowing we’ve got a six Test match summer followed by four in India and then of course the Ashes. The next 12-15 months are going to be really important.”So deep are Australia’s pace bowling resources at the outset of the season that a bowler as accomplished as Luke Butterworth is unlikely to be considered. Butterworth’s consistency and craft are well known to de Winter, the former Tasmania bowling coach, leaving him to hope that his former pupil can push for a berth on the Ashes tour in 2013.”He keeps stacking up the numbers doesn’t he, and over a long period of time,” de Winter said. “I think he’s probably someone you could consider in conditions that suit his style of bowling. He’s a proven player of a long period of time and I’m sure he’s on the radar. But it’s a large group of bowlers so there’s going to be a big challenge on.”Based on performance Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Pattinson are the leading candidates to be selected, and that’s just a common sense approach, given how well they did last summer and in the West Indies.”

Pepper, Wheater make light work of run-chase to hand Eagles victory on DLS method

ECB Reporters Network29-Jun-2021Michael Pepper scored his maiden Vitality Blast half-century as Essex Eagles beat Somerset by six wickets on DLS to maintain their hopes of qualifying for the knockouts.Pepper, in his 18th T20 appearance, struck a chase-perfect 55 off 35 balls, having put on 80 with Adam Wheater for the third wicket.Simon Harmer had bedazzled Somerset as he claimed 4 for 24 – his second successive four-for – while New Zealander Devon Conway made it back-to-back half-centuries as he glued the innings of 153 together.That was before Pepper and Wheater made short shrift of the run-chase to win with five balls to spare – and give the Eagles only their fourth T20 victory at the Cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford, since the beginning of the 2018 season.Somerset were stuck in by the Eagles on a hybrid pitch being used for the fourth time – a fact that made the proficiency of spin no surprise.The visitors, on the back of chasing down 168 without losing a wicket against Kent Spitfires the previous evening, started off with stands of 30, 31 and 46 as they reached 77 for 2 at the half-way point – with Tom Banton caught at mid-on and Will Smeed sweeping Harmer to the square leg boundary.Harmer then grabbed three wickets in an over – Lewis Goldsworthy caught at midwicket, Tom Lammonby lbw and Lewis Gregory chipping into the leg side – as Somerset lost seven wickets in 26 balls.Ben Green skied Aron Nijjar, Craig Overton edged to short third man, Marchant de Lange was caught by Pepper running in from long on and Conway – having struck his fifty in 42 balls – picked out deep midwicket. From the last ball of the innings Sam Cook castled Max Waller to land on 153.Michael Pepper catches Marchant De Lange•Getty Images

After a delayed start to their innings, Wheater and Will Buttleman were both dropped before another rain break saw an over chopped off and the target revised to 148.The rain subsided and saw Buttleman drill to backward point and Dan Lawrence fluffed his slog to long off to leave Essex in danger of collapsing on 35 for 2.But Wheater and Pepper recovered with a brilliantly paced innings, which initially matched the DLS score before occasionally cutting loose to reach a 50 stand in 31 balls.The partnership was eventually broken on 80 as Wheater was caught at short cover for 49 before de Lange pinned back Jimmy Neesham’s leg stump.Pepper was dropped with 15 still needed before cutting to bring up his fifty – with Ryan ten Doeschate smashing Jack Brooks for six over long on to win the match.

Opener’s big hundred leaves England playing catch-up despite dismissing Virat Kohli for 0

Alan Gardner13-Feb-2021A majestic innings in capricious conditions from India opener Rohit Sharma gave the hosts a strong platform at the outset of the second Chennai Test. Rohit counterattacked during a harum-scarum morning session and then settled in to grind England into the dry, cracked clay of the MA Chidambaram Stadium, converting his fourth Test hundred as an opener into a dominant 161.After Virat Kohli had voiced his dissatisfaction with the pitch produced at Chepauk for the first Test against England, it was no surprise to see the ball turn and spit for the spinners on day one of the rematch. Kohli himself was done in by it, bowled for a fifth-ball duck by the returning Moeen Ali before lunch. But that was the high point of the day for Moeen and England, as Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane produced a bustling century partnership that threatened to be decisive even at such an early stage.England claimed three early wickets – including one for Olly Stone with his third ball on only his second Test appearance – but were effectively shut out by Rohit and Rahane during the afternoon session, despite regular half-chances coming and going. Again Joe Root was left to rue a lack of control from his spinners: Jack Leach was the more consistent, asking questions throughout the day, while Moeen went at more than four an over, despite picking up the wickets of Kohli and Rahane.Rohit rode his luck at times, gloving Leach short of slip on 41 and enduring some nervy moments against Moeen in the 90s, but he picked when to attack with judicious care to ensure that India would not squander their in advantage after winning the toss. He skipped along briskly during the early exchanges, scoring 80 from 78 balls before lunch, and kept England toiling long into the day. Such was his dominance that he was visibly frustrated after slog-sweeping Leach to deep backward square leg, having scored almost exactly two-thirds of his side’s 248 for 4.Related

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Rahane showed his quality, too, reaching fifty for the first time since his Boxing Day Test hundred at the MCG. He fell shortly after Rohit, although not before he had controversially been given not out on review when the third umpire failed to check whether a delivery from Leach had bounced up to hit the glove off the pad.In the next over, Rahane was bowled sweeping at Moeen, and Root himself picked up a wicket when he had R Ashwin stabbing a bat-pad catch to short leg, but with Rishabh Pant bringing out his trusty frying pan to deal with the spitting ball India bounced along to reach 300 in the final over of the day, much to the satisfaction of the home fans who had been allowed back in for this match.England, whose attack featured three changes from the one that bowled them to victory in the first Test, made a good start after being put into the field, with Stone striking in the second over, Shubman Gill pinned lbw offering no shot. Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara then played positively during an 85-run partnership at more than four an over, with the former latching on whenever England’s bowlers missed their lengths. Rohit hooked Ben Stokes for six, twice swept Leach for fours to bring up a 47-ball fifty and drilled another boundary to long-on to take India to 100 shortly before the break.There was plenty of work to do for England’s spinners on day one•BCCI

There were early signs of turn and the ball disturbing the surface, though, and it was Leach who broke the second-wicket stand when Pujara tamely steered to slip. That brought cheers from the crowd, with Chepauk back at 50% capacity for this game, as Kohli walked out to bat – but they were silenced a few moments later when Moeen tossed up an inviting delivery that ragged back inside the India captain’s expansive drive to ping the off bail.Kohli was left looking quizzically at his partner, and lingered while the umpires confirmed that the ball had indeed crashed directly into the stumps. But as has often been the case during Moeen’s Test career, he mixed the sublime with the ordinary: his first ball of the day was a full toss, and a similar delivery saw Rahane get off the mark with a drive through cover.With Rohit sweeping aggressively – he scored six boundaries and 31 runs from the 16 times he employed the shot – and Rahane working the gaps interspersed with the occasional off-side boundary, India held England at bay before pressing home their advantage as the day wore on. Rohit, who survived an early review for lbw against Leach, was occasionally ruffled by the left-arm spinner’s line, while Rahane had to endure some uncomfortable moments against Stone’s short stuff, but as the partnership grew so will England’s sense of foreboding about a surface on which they will have to bat last.Having moved to 97 by rifling Moeen over long-off for six, Rohit almost toe-ended a paddle sweep to short midwicket, before bringing up his hundred with a more effective attempt a couple of overs later. England thought he should have been given out stumped on 159, but TV umpire Anil Chaudhary gave Rohit the benefit of the doubt despite his back foot seeming to be on the line when Foakes dislodged the bails.Chaudhary was again the focus of attention once Rohit had departed, when he declined to wind the replay on after determining that the delivery had missed Rahane’s inside edge. England’s review, which had been lost in error, was later restored by the match referee – but their frustration was palpable at the end of a day that clearly distilled the challenge ahead.

New Zealand will play two Test matches and two Twenty20 internationals in India as part of their preparations for the ICC World T20 in September in Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2012

New Zealand tour of India 2012

August 23-27 – 1st Test, Hyderabad
August 31-September 4 – 2nd Test, Bangalore
September 8 – 1st T20, Visakhapatnam
September 11 – 2nd T20, Chennai

New Zealand will play two Test matches and two Twenty20 internationals in India as part of their preparations for the ICC World T20 in September in Sri Lanka. The BCCI has confirmed that the first Test will be played in Hyderabad from August 23, followed by the second in Bangalore from August 31. The fixtures, however, did not include an warm-up games.The teams will then head to Visakhapatnam for the first T20 international on September 8 and then to Chennai on September 11 for the second. New Zealand last toured India in 2010, losing the Test series 1-0 and the ODIs 5-0.New Zealand will be without their head coach John Wright, who said he would step down after the West Indies tour ends in early August, shortly before the India series. New Zealand is currently ranked eighth in the ICC Test rankings, while India have slumped to fourth after calamitous tours of England and Australia over the last year.

Rizwan’s 51 goes in vain as other batsmen let Pakistan down

Firdose Moonda13-Feb-2021South Africa broke a losing streak that stretched back five T20Is to last February and stayed alive in the ongoing series in Pakistan by successfully chasing 145 in foggy conditions in Lahore.They laid the groundwork for victory after choosing to field for the second successive match and restricting Pakistan to a below-par total, thanks to an outstanding performance by Dwaine Pretorius. He claimed the best bowling figures for South Africa in T20Is with 5 for 17, beating Ryan McLaren’s 5 for 19.Pretorius took a wicket at the start and returned to take four in the last quarter of the innings to keep the hosts to a chaseable total. Reeza Hendricks and Pite van Biljon’s 77-run third-wicket stand set South Africa up for victory, and David Miller sealed it with 22 balls to spare.The final T20I of the series takes place at the same venue on Sunday.The Rizwan showHaving struck an unbeaten 104 in the first T20I, Mohammad Rizwan once again anchored the Pakistan innings with his 51. Again, his innings made up a significant proportion of Pakistan’s total. Rizwan scored 61.54% of their runs in the first match and more than a third of their total in this match.Rizwan was off the mark by slog-sweeping the first ball of the match for four. Then he cashed in on Glenton Stuurman’s first over in international cricket, which was littered with overpitched deliveries onto the pads, and punished his slower ball, and made Lutho Sipamla pay for anything full. Rizwan’s fifty came up off 39 balls and he only faced two more before holing out to long-off off a Pretorius slower ball in a bid to up the scoring rate in the last five overs.Shamsi gets the squeeze onSouth Africa gave away just 50 runs in the nine overs between the end of the powerplay and the start of the last five, thanks largely to their wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi. He bowled ten dot balls in his four overs and did not concede a single boundary as he flighted the ball and varied his pace to keep the Pakistan batsmen guessing. Shamsi was only rewarded with one wicket, which came off his second ball, when Hussain Talat tried a second successive reverse sweep off him but sent the ball straight to van Biljon at backward point.Pite van Biljon and Reeza Hendricks add 77 for the third wicket•AFP

And Pretorius scoops the biggest prizes Pretorius made the first incision into the Pakistan line-up when he had Babar Azam trapped lbw with the second ball of the second over of the match. The ball nipped back in from a length as Babar played around his front pad and was struck in front of middle stump but the Pakistan captain, whose form has been wretched since his return from injury, reviewed to no avail. Despite that success, Pretorius only bowled one over in his opening spell as Heinrich Klaasen rotated his bowlers early on.He brought Pretorius back to replace Shamsi in the 14th over, with Pakistan yet to bring up 100. Pretorius piled on the pressure when he had Iftikhar Ahmed skying an offcutter into the lights, and David Miller at midwicket took an outstanding catch. He then got rid of Rizwan and returned to take two wickets in three balls in his last over, to pick up a five-for. Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Nawaz were both unable to deal with the yorker, with Shah slicing an edge to Klaasen and Nawaz was castled.Taking on the spinAfter a tentative and confused approach to spin in the first match, South Africa were much more aggressive and confident in this game. Hendricks and van Biljon scored 31 runs off 17 balls from Usman Qadir and 20 runs off 19 balls from Nawaz to break the back of the chase.Hendricks got the ball rolling when he made room to hit Nawaz’s first ball for six over long-on, immediately after Shaheen Shah Afridi delivered a wicket-maiden, and then showed no fear against Qadir. Hendricks dispatched a full toss for six before van Biljon sent him over long-on to take 13 runs off Qadir’s first over. Hendricks also picked the googly, and hit it for six, but two balls later Qadir had van Biljon stumped, charging down the track, except that he had overstepped.The Pakistan spinners got the last laugh when Qadir had Hendricks caught at mid-on to break the stand and in the next over, Nawaz drew a leading edge from van Biljon and completed the catch in his followthrough. Qadir found significant turn in his final over but South Africa had done enough to ease their way to a win.

Kraigg Brathwaite the biggest mover in the Test batsmen’s table, up 21 places to No. 43

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Apr-2021Fakhar Zaman’s 155-ball 193, which almost took Pakistan to an unexpected win over South Africa in their second ODI before it ended in controversial circumstances, has helped him move up seven spots to No. 12 in the men’s ODI rankings for batsmen. Also moving up after two big innings – 123* and 60 – was Rassie van der Dussen, up to a career-best 22.van der Dussen, however, had to skip the final match of the series – a decider in Centurion on Wednesday – after picking up a quad injury, but Zaman has the chance to build on his position on the table.Of the others to gain on the table, South Africa’s new ODI captain Temba Bavuma’s 92 in the second ODI took him up to a career-best 88th spot among batsmen, while Anrich Nortje’s 4 for 51 and 3 for 63 in the two games, before he left for the IPL, helped him get to 73rd place, also a career-best position.The rain-curtailed final T20I of the series between New Zealand and Bangladesh also took place in the period under consideration, and in it, Finn Allen smashed 71 in 29 balls to lead his team to a 65-run win and a 3-0 series sweep. That helped him enter the top 100 after just three matches, while Tim Southee’s 3 for 15 in that game meant he remained the top-ranked fast bowler in the format, at sixth place.Namibia’s Gerhard Erasmus, meanwhile, scored an unbeaten 62 in the first T20I against Uganda as his team won 3-0, and that helped him get to 66th place, the best for his country.The major mover from the second and final Test of the West Indies vs Sri Lanka series, which ended 0-0, was Kraigg Brathwaite. The new West Indies Test captain scored 126 and 85, and went up 21 places to 43rd. Oshada Fernando’s 66* in the second innings took him 11 places up to 61, while Jason Holder remained the best allrounder after hitting 30 and 71 not out and picking up two wickets in the first innings.

Reassuring medical opinion about the long-term effects of his concussions helped the opener prepare for his debut

Andrew McGlashan07-Jan-20211:28

Mike Hussey: Will Pucovski looked very composed at the crease

Reassuring medical opinion that he did not need to be concerned about long-term damage helped prepare Will Pucovski for his Test debut after what he admitted had been a “rollercoaster” period following a ninth concussion last month.Pucovski was felled by a bouncer from Kartik Tyagi the Australia A match against India at Drummoyne Oval in early December and was ruled out of contention for the first two Tests of the series. It was no given that he would be brought into the side at the first opportunity, and in the days leading up to the SCG match he visited an independent neurologist alongside the specialists used by Cricket Australia.The advice he received allowed him to look Australia coach Justin Langer in the eyes and tell him he was ready and available. A couple of days of nets followed, before he was told on Wednesday that he was in the side, forming a new opening partnership with David Warner.”It’s been quite surreal… it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, getting hit about a month ago and been to millions of different doctors it feels like trying to get a bit of clarity and a bit of an answer as to what the go was and everything along those lines.”But I managed to get through all the protocols and put myself up for selection and lucky enough to get selected. Has been a bit of a whirlwind but awesome to be here.”The maturity with which Pucovski speaks about all topics from batting, dealing with concussions and his mental health has always stood out and he is aware that he needs to be sure life after cricket is not impacted by what takes place on the field.”When you get the information from doctors that things are actually going okay and there’s nothing too much to worry about long-term at this stage it makes it a lot easier for you,” he said. “It’s one of those things with your head, you don’t want to risk it because you’ve got a long life after cricket and a long life after sport [that] you want to be fit and healthy for.”I sought some different opinions on what was going on and I was pretty satisfied I’m in a pretty good place to continue even if I get hit again it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”A moment to cherish for Will Pucovski, handed his baggy green on Test debut•Getty Images

Pucovski admitted he had a slightly restless night knowing he was going to debut, but that the occasion itself did not feel as overwhelming as he thought it might. He was given the option over whether to face the first ball and after some back-and-forth decided to dive straight in.”In my head I think I’d built up I was going to be ridiculously nervous and it wasn’t that bad in the end. I was just excited that the opportunity had finally got there. In that sense it was actually quite calming in a way. It was pretty cool going out to bat”It was one of those days where I was just absolutely loving it. Probably my favourite day of cricket to date and it’s just a really exciting experience playing your first game for Australia but on top of that obviously with a bit of background to get to the position I’m in, it was just pretty awesome to be out there.”

Lancashire’s head coach Peter Moores has signed a two-year extension to his contract following the county’s first outright championship title for 77 years. His contract will now run until 2014.

David Hopps13-Jan-2012Lancashire’s head coach Peter Moores has signed a two-year extension to his contract following the county’s first outright championship title for 77 years. His contract will now run until 2014.Moores’ rehabilitation has been swift since he was sacked as England coach three years ago, following a rift with the then-captain, Kevin Pietersen, who also lost his job as a result.He guided an unfashionable Lancashire side to the title when many judges had regarded them as relegation probables, repeating the success he had enjoyed at county level with Sussex before taking up the England role.Moores said: “I am really pleased to commit to Lancashire. I have enjoyed my time immensely.”

Last chance for Mumbai to experiment before the playoffs

Deivarayan Muthu02-Nov-20207:09

Should Mumbai rest key players against Sunrisers?

Big picture

After the Sunrisers Hyderabad botched a chase of 127 against the Kings XI Punjab in Dubai, they had to topple the top-three teams to make the playoffs. Having seen off the Delhi Capitals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, David Warner’s men now run into the table-topping Mumbai Indians in the last league fixture of IPL 2020 on Tuesday in Sharjah. If they win, they go to the playoffs on net run-rate. If they lose, they go home.ALSO READ: Your Fantasy cricket guide for the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians matchHaving already lost Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mitchell Marsh to injuries, the Sunrisers are sweating on allrounder Vijay Shankar’s fitness. Shankar was sidelined from the game against the Royal Challengers after hurting his hamstring while bowling against the Capitals. Left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Abhishek Sharma replaced him on Saturday, but wasn’t needed with the ball.Wriddhiman Saha has come good at the top and that has also allowed his captain Warner to go back to his “old school” ways of clearing his front leg and hitting out in the powerplay. A fit-again Kane Williamson and Jason Holder have papered over the cracks in the middle order, but Rashid Khan’s spell could well be the game-changer.As for Mumbai, this is another chance for them to rest Hardik Pandya, who has been troubled by back issues in the recent past, and other key players, ahead of the first qualifier.

Likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Quinton de Kock/Chris Lynn, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Kieron Pollard (capt), 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 8 Jayant Yadav, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult/Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Jasprit Bumrah/Dhawal KulkarniSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Abdul Samad, 6 Abhishek Sharma, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem/Khaleel Ahmed, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 T Natarajan

Previous meeting

A fifty from Quinton de Kock coupled with big-hitting from Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers propelled Mumbai to 208 for 5 at this venue. In reply, Warner struck a fifty of his own, but the rest of the batting line-up fell away as the Sunrisers lost by 34 runs.

Strategy punts

• Sandeep Sharma has had the wood over Suryakumar Yadav, removing him three times in six innings while giving up only 27 runs off 28 balls. If the Sunrisers find a way past the openers early, Sharma could get another proper crack at Yadav.
• If Bumrah continues to play, the Sunrisers could use Manish Pandey as a floater to tackle him. Pandey has hit Bumrah for 52 runs off 25 balls without being dismissed in the IPL.

Stats that matter

• The last five games at Sharjah have been won by the chasing teams.
• Pandey seems to relish playing against Mumbai. He has scored 578 runs, including five fifty-plus scores, against them, his most against an IPL opposition.
• Rashid has picked up eight wickets in seven games against Mumbai, conceding at 4.82 an over – his second-best economy rate against an IPL opposition. Against the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, he had an economy rate of 4.37 although the sample size is limited to a mere two matches.
• Holder is one strike away from 100 wickets in T20s. He’s also 20 runs away from 1000 T20 runs.
• Kishan has hit 24 sixes in 10 innings this IPL. Only Nicholas Pooran (25) and Sanju Samson (26) have struck more sixes than him, but their teams have now been knocked out of the tournament.