Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants will be looking to end the campaigns on a high when they square off at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Both teams are out of contention for the playoffs and will be playing for pride so expect a competitive contest. Let’s look at the best bets to take for this game.
Venue: Wankhede Stadium
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Mumbai Indians enter their final game with a disappointing record against Lucknow, having secured just one win in their last six matches and only four throughout the season. Their early losses gave way to a brief mid-season recovery with three wins in four games, but they’ve since unravelled, with only one victory after a close contest against Punjab on April 18. Despite often being favourites, their only substantial win in this stretch was a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad. Their average score of 182 is just shy of the league’s average, but their significant loss of 90 wickets has been their Achilles’ heel.
Lucknow Super Giants, similarly, struggling, has only one win in their last five outings, despite a remarkable victory in Chennai where they chased down 211. However, recent heavy losses to Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata have exposed their vulnerabilities. Nicholas Pooran and KL Rahul remain among the top scorers this season, but with an average team total of 173 and the league’s lowest wicket count at 63, their bowling department, led by Naveen-ul-Haq with 12 wickets, lacks impact, reflecting in their poor standings in both batting and bowling metrics.
Both teams have been poor this season and both come into this game in dismal form but it’s LSG who have produced very weak performances, so we expect Mumbai Indians to conclude their IPL 2023 season with a win.
Key Battle: Despite a slight dip in his season average over the last few matches, Lucknow skipper KL Rahul has nonetheless recorded a score of 25 or better in eight of his last ten innings. He also averages a stunning 234 against Mumbai, courtesy of two centuries against them. He has an excellent record against Mumbai strike bowlerJasprit Bumrah who has 20 wickets for the season and figures of 2/146 against him from 117 balls.
Key Stats
The average first innings score at this venue this season is 184.
Lucknow could not register the highest opening partnership in each of their last six matches.
Mumbai failed to record the higher powerplay score in five of their last six games.
MI’s openers have the second-lowest average (26.2) among all teams this season.
Lucknow scored the fewest or equal-fewest sixes in each of their last eight outings.
Jasprit Bumrah has 3/28 from 36 balls bowled to Marcus Stoinis in the IPL.
Suryakumar Yadav top scored for Mumbai in three of their last six matches.
Jasprit Bumrah (x5) and Hardik Pandya (x4) returned Mumbai’s best bowling figures (wickets followed by economy rate) in nine of their 13 games in IPL 2024.
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