Upbeat Mumbai Indians To Take On Gujarat Titans' Might In Vital IPL Clash

An upbeat Mumbai Indians are likely to be tested to the hilt by table-toppers and defending champions Gujarat Titans in a vital Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. For the first time in this IPL, five-time winners MI have looked promising as they rose to the third spot in the points table with a six-wicket thumping of Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Tuesday.

The manner in which MI thrashed RCB -- chasing 200 inside 17 overs -- highlighted once again how successful their batting has been, even though for the second consecutive game they reshuffled the order in a bid to push their net run rate.

Despite their best batter and captain Rohit Sharma enduring a lean patch with five single-digit scores on the trot, MI's batting has been nearly unstoppable here at the Wankhede Stadium as they successfully chased a target of 200 or above twice in three attempts.

Even against Punjab Kings, MI replied with 201 for 6 while chasing 215.

However, the issue for MI this year is not restricted to Rohit's form or the absence of Jasprit Bumrah or Jofra Archer, but their bowling which has conceded four consecutive totals above 200, and nearly did so versus RCB again. In the last three games here, opposition sides have raked up 214/8, 212/7 and 199/6, making the most of a flat wicket and perfect batting conditions -- something that GT would also like to target.

MI's bowling did well against RCB to stop their charge in the middle-overs, but GT are not grappling with the issue of not having in-form batters lower in the order like RCB.

Suryakumar Yadav's 35-ball 83 and Nehal Wadhera's second fifty of the season handed MI a commanding win over RCB, but the hosts would know that they cannot afford any slip up against