Pune: Former India cricketer WV Raman believes five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians can set themselves on fire for doing well against Royal Challengers Bangalore after a slow start to their IPL 2022 season. The Rohit Sharma-led side, having lost their first three matches of the current season, are now looking to get their campaign back on track when they face Bengaluru at the MCA Stadium on Saturday.
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“They have it at times for the simple reason that they know how to manage the season. They are aware of the fact that there are a lot of ups and downs in an IPL season so you should try and keep it up. That’s where MI has an edge over others because they’ve managed everything all these years and have been successful too. So, that’s how they keep themselves motivated. The fact is they haven’t done that well. As much as they can really motivate them and set their stomachs on fire,” Raman was quoted as saying by cricket.com
In all three matches, Mumbai’s bowling attack has not been running together, scoring a lot of runs on various occasions. Raman has suggested that Mumbai may consider bringing in left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat and leg-spinner Mayank Markande in the playing XI for the crucial match against Bengaluru.
“They will probably bring (Jaydev) Unadkat for (Tyamal) Mills. Unadkat can bring in a lot of variety, which is very important when you are up against any good side, especially a team that boasts of big hitters like Dinesh Karthik, Maxwell, Virat Kohli. RCB’s batting line-up is really strong.”
“So, you need someone who can really mix it up a lot. He has backed a left-arm seamer who is an apples to apples. Unadkat is also the one who talks about putting skates on the batsmen . He has evolved over time.”
Talking about Markande, who made his IPL debut with the franchise in 2018, Raman commented, “I will also see if I can bring in another leg-spinner – (Mayank) Markande – that is good too. We have seen that leg spinners have had an impact in the T20 format and other white ball formats as well. This is another tempting thing for me for the match against RCB. We saw how (Vanindu) Hasranga fared against KKR. So, leg-spinners definitely have the ability to make an impact.”
Raman said he is interested to see how Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma performs against Bangalore pacer Mohammad Siraj.
“I would be very curious to see Siraj vs Rohit. These people know each other very well but it is very different in the match scenario. Siraj is playing for a team which has good pace. There is a bit of pressure to handle Rohit as his team is not doing as well as they can.”
“Also the fact that he has to be the star performer for them means that extra pressure can bring out the best in him. Siraj sometimes has this habit of lip smacking. If he does that it can make things interesting.”
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