Mumbai: Mumbai Indians (MI) run of three successive wins in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 came to an end last weekend against the Punjab Kings. Now they are up against defending champions Gujarat Titans in match No. 35 of the IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. GT are on a high after pulling off a sensational win against Lucknow Super Giants away from home on Saturday.
Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar has made a fine initial impact since making his debut for MI a couple of weeks back. However, Arjun struggled with the ball against PBKS in their last match, conceding 31 runs in 1 over as well. But Rohit Sharma and MI are expected to stick with the young pacer, who can also wield the willow well with Jasprit Bumrah ruled out for the entire season.
But MI may include one of the two Australian pacers – Jason Behrendorff or Riley Meredith – to bolster their bowling resources against Hardik Pandya’s GT. Former Australian pacer Brett Lee believes that Arjun Tendulkar has the capability of bowling at over 140kph.
“When he (Arjun Tendulkar) was given the responsibility of bowling at the death the other evening, when he closed out the game and won the match for the Mumbai Indians, whichever way it went, I knew it would have been a great experience. What I mean is that he has been thrown into the deep end and that has been great for him. So he is learning as he goes. And like in the other evening when he got hit for a few runs, that is fine. It happens in T20 cricket and I keep reiterating to bowlers that in this format there will be games when bowlers go the journey. It has happened to me so many times. So you have to take the emotion out of it,” Lee, IPL Expert on JioCinema, said.
“People criticise almost everything. If you look at Sandeep Sharma, he has been bowling at 120 kph. Arjun is at least bowling way faster than that. He is only 23 years of age and he has got his whole career ahead of him. My advice will be don’t listen to critics. Like his dad had to go through like he misses out and gets a low score…you got to back yourself. He has got some wonderful skills. He can bowl at 140 kph so as soon as he gets comfortable bowling in the team environment, in front of the big lights and big crowd, his pace will increase. I see no issue with his pace,” Lee said about Arjun Tendulkar.
Home side GT, on the other hand, are expected to stick with Jayant Yadav as the ‘Impact Player’. The Delhi off-spinner replaced Shubman Gill in the side when bowling second against LSG in the last match. The rest of the line-up is expected to remain the same.
Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians IPL 2023 Predicted Playing 11
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill/ Jayant Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya (c), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Josh Little/Noor Ahmad
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff/Riley Meredith.
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