Daijiworld Media Network

Mumbai, May 13: Hello and welcome to the all-important clash between Mumbai and Hyderabad from Mumbai. The last time these two teams met, Hyderabad secured a comfortable victory. However, Mumbai are playing in their fortress and they will be looking to extract revenge. The fact that they are undefeated in Mumbai will give them added confidence. A win for Mumbai maintains the status quo at the top of the order. Bangalore will stay in fourth position and the shoot-out for the last spot remains. If Hyderabad win today, then it will throw Mumbai and Bangalore's plan awry.

Hyderabad have won the toss and elected to bat.

Rohit Sharma: We would have batted as well. We will need to set the tone and restrict them to a small score. We have two changes. Kieron Pollard comes back in place of Glenn Maxwell and Dhawal Kulkarni is in for Abu Nechim. It is an important game for us. We have prepared well. We do not want to think too much about the points table. Looks like a good wicket to bat on.

Cameron White: 'We will bat first. The wicket looks pretty good, the statistics say teams batting first has won all the 6 matches here. We know that a win here can take us a long way in the tournament. We are playing an unchanged side. Mumbai have a lot of success here, but we have played well ourselves. It will be nice for our batsmen to contribute today. We need to do well with both the bat and the ball.'

Teams:

Hyderabad (Playing XI): Parthiv Patel(w), Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari, Cameron White(c), Biplab Samantray, Darren Sammy, Karan Sharma, Thisara Perera, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma

Mumbai (Playing XI): Dwayne Smith, Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Dhawal Kulkarni, Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha

Match Preview:

The tournament is coming to a close and the top teams find themselves in a position of fighting hard for a place in the play-offs. Mumbai, undoubtedly stronger and currently sitting pretty at the third position, need to make this home game count so as to secure themselves firmly at the top. Hyderabad, on the other hand, have a low net run-rate among all top teams and their only choice will be to win all the remaining games.

Mumbai

Mumbai have not lost a home game so far and are hot favourites in this clash. Although, they had a miserable time against Pune in their last game, they are back at their happy hunting ground now. Their batsmen will be ready to fire on the Mumbai pitch and their bowling will be equally intimidating.

In form player: Mitchell Johnson - With 19 wickets and being Mumbai's top wicket-taker, Johnson has been in an incredible form. Not only can he strike early in the innings but he also has the ability to paralyze the scoreboard and not let the opposite team score runs. He won the Man of the match award for his brilliant spell of 2/8 in his quota of 4 overs.

Hit: Ambati Rayudu - Rayudu has always been overshadowed in the already star-studded Mumbai team. However, one cannot forget his useful contributions which have allowed Mumbai to post or chase good totals. When the Mumbai batting faltered against Pune in the previous match, Rayudu was responsible for playing a small but effective cameo alongside Rohit Sharma and stabilizing their innings.

Miss: Pragyan Ojha - Ojha has had a mediocre season. He has been good in few matches and pretty ordinary in the rest. In the last game, it was just not his day going for 28 runs in just 3 overs and not picking up a single wicket. He really needs to step up and deliver to make his inclusion in the team count.

Last three matches: Won against Pune by 5 wickets, Won against Kolkata by 65 runs, Won against Chennai by 60 runs

Hyderabad

Although Hyderabad boast of a fantastic bowling line-up, their batting still remains weak. They need to perform as a unit and their batsmen need to complement their bowling in such as way that they achieve comprehensive wins. In the previous game, they were able to defend a modest total of 150 but a need for putting in more effort is required especially when they take on formidable teams like Mumbai.

In form player: Dale Steyn - Steyn is perhaps one of best swing bowlers in the world and one of the most intimidating too. He has been the very pillar of Hyderabad's bowling and one of the prime reasons of their success in this season. Hyderabad will be hoping that Steyn lives upto his reputation and cleans up the famed Mumbai batting attack.

Hit: Parthiv Patel - Parthiv ended a long-standing drought of runs when he hit an amazing 61 off just 47 balls to help Hyderabad reach a modest total against Punjab in the last game. He gave them one of their best starts and they will hope that the little guy performs just as well against Mumbai to strengthen their position against such a daunting opposition.

Miss: Hanuma Vihari - Vihari's season started on a high with good knocks. He has also pulled Hyderabad out of difficult situations with his composed batting. However, lately he has had a poor run failing to even reach double digit scores. Hyderabad will hope that Vihari comes back in form lends some stability to the middle order.

Last three matches: Won against Punjab by 30 runs, Lost to Chennai by 77 runs, Won against Delhi by 6 wickets

Head to Head: Hyderabad - 1, Mumbai - 0.

Quotes:

Rohit Sharma is happy the way his team is performing - All credit to the boys, they have been responding very well with the changes that I make on the field. We didn't get a good start but we managed to get past the line. Now we go back home. There are a couple of games coming up and hopefully we will continue to do well

It's about us winning the game of cricket. There are very few second chances leading into the final stages and it's pleasing to walk away with the win. There is no point looking at what other teams are doing, whether they are winning or losing. We know what we need to do and keep winning as many games as possible. - Tom Moody talks about Hyderabad's strategy.

CB Pick: Mumbai - The last time they played against Hyderabad, they lost the game by 7 wickets. But this time, they are home and after three back to back wins, Mumbai will be keen to avenge their previous encounter.