Reigning champ MI faces crunch time
The Hindu
With a playoffs spot on the line, its wobbly middle-order has to fire against SRH
Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad have locked horns in the last game of the league stage twice in the last six IPL editions. While SRH will hope to reprise last season’s heroics at Sharjah, MI will be eyeing a repeat of the 2015 face-off at Hyderabad, on Friday night.
With a spot in the playoffs on the line, Rohit Sharma will want his MI unit at its peak. The defending champion will be wary, however, of bottom-placed SRH, which has nothing to lose. And as it showed on Wednesday when it stunned Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kane Williamson’s side remains a dangerous opponent.
In 2015, the last league game between these two teams was a virtual quarterfinal, with the winner set to enter the playoffs. SRH wilted under the pressure and MI advanced in style.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.