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Mumbai fight for survival against resurgent Lions
- Updated: May 20, 2016
Match facts
Saturday, May 21, 2016 Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Big Picture
After a stop-start season that has been difficult to gauge, Mumbai Indians’ playoff hopes are mostly in their own hands. A win against Gujarat Lions in Kanpur would leave them with a strong chance of going through; a defeat could consign them to the ranks of also-rans. In both cases, Mumbai’s ultimate fate will depend on other results, but the outcome of their last league match will have a huge bearing on it.
They have been here before – sort of. In each of the last two IPL seasons, Mumbai required a late charge to make it to the playoffs. Last season, that late charge extended into the playoffs and earned them the title. This time around, the early slump was not quite as pronounced, and there hasn’t been much of a late charge to speak of. Nevertheless, as the defending champions treat their last league match like a knockout, they will seek to draw as much inspiration as they can from their late-season heroics in 2015.
Lions will be buoyed by their big win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday, but they cannot afford to relax yet. A loss to Mumbai could possibly leave them as one of five teams with 16 points, in which case their poor net run-rate of -0.479 would probably see them squeezed out. They will be keen to seal their qualification with a win, all the …
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