Stung by successive losses, Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to turn the ship around and inch closer to a play-off berth when they face table-toppers Mumbai Indians in a crucial IPl T20 match here on Monday.
Hyderabad, currently placed fourth on the points table with 13 points, need to win its remaining two matches to completely seal their play-offs berth.
Hyderabad had lost to Delhi Daredevils by six wickets at New Delhi but what hurt them most was their 12-run loss to Rising Pune Supergiants at home on Saturday.
It was their first home defeat of the season.
Chasing a modest target of 149, Captain David Warner (40) and Yuvraj Singh (47) made decent contributions but other batsmen Shikhar Dhawan (19), Kane Williamson (4), Moises Henriques (4) and Naman Ojha (9) were found wanting.
It was Jayadev Unadkat's five wicket haul, which included a hat-trick in the final over, that did the trick for Pune as they restricted SRH to 136-9.
The middle-order batting has been a point of bother for Sunrisers and they need to address it if the team has to win Monday's match against Mumbai.
The bowling, however, has been a major strength for Sunrisers with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan and Siddharth Kaul taking most wickets for them.
In fact, Kaul returned with a four-wicket haul yesterday to restrict RPS to 148-8.
Hyderabad's seasoned bowler Ashish Nehra left the field apparently due to cramps yesterday after bowling seven balls and it was not immediately clear whether he would be available on Monday.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, have already qualified for the play-offs, but remains focused on getting the most from its remaining league games.
MI has been in sublime form and their massive 146-run win over Delhi Daredevils last night has only cemented their position at the top.
The blazing innings of MI batsmen — lendl Simmons (66), Kieron Pollard's unbeaten 63 helped the team post a massive 212 runs against DD on Saturday.
Parthiv Patel and Nitish Rana also been been in good form, while captain Rohit Sharma too have contributed with the bat.
Pandya brothers — Hardik and Krunal — have also chipped in from time to time.
In the bowling department, experienced Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma scalped three wickets each last night, while pacer Mitchell McClenaghan was back among wickets in recent matches.
Pacer lasith Malinga, who has been out of form, also took two wickets yesterday and may just be returning to the kind of form that once made him a T20 specialist.
Jasprit Bumrah too has been phenomenal with his death bowling.