Who’s playing
Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Gujarat Giants (GG)
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 7.30pm IST
What to expect: Top spot up for grabs
Giants have to win to entertain thoughts of finishing at No. 1. Mumbai have a game in hand and can get there even if they lose on Monday, but it’ll then mean a three-way tie should they beat RCB. They’d want to avoid this logjam, having been in a similar position last year and then seeing RCB beat them in the Eliminator.
Giants are on a bull run, having won more games (three) over the past week than they did all of last season. But there’s one thing they haven’t done yet: beat Mumbai Indians, who have a 5-0 record against them in the tournament’s short history. If that wasn’t pressure enough, they’ll now face the challenge of playing Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians in Mumbai, at the Brabourne Stadium, where they’re yet to lose a single game.
Mumbai look equally strong but have changed their batting combinations courtesy Yastika Bhatia’s prolonged lean run. In their previous game, Amelia Kerr was promoted to open with Hayley Mathews. It remains to be seen if this will be their plan at the back end too. If it is, it could mean a bigger batting responsibility for S Sajana and Amanjot Kaur in the middle order.
Form guide
Mumbai Indians WLWWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Gujarat Giants WWWLL
Team News
D Hemalatha’s poor run at the top of the order may force a change. Simran Shaikh, who plays for Mumbai in domestic cricket, could get a look-in to inject some lower-order firepower.
Gujarat Giants (probable XI): 1 Beth Mooney, 2 Phoebe Lichfield, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Ash Gardner (capt), 5 Deandra Dottin, 6 Simran Shaikh, 7 Kashvee Gautam, 8 Bharti Fulmali, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Meghna Singh, 11 Priya Mishra
Mumbai have no reason to tinker with their XI.
Mumbai Indians (probable XI): 1 Hayley Matthews, 2 Amelia Kerr, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur, 5 Amanjot Kaur, 6 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 7 G Kamalini, 8 S Sajana, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 9 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Parunika Sisodia
Players to watch: Kashvee Gautam and Hayley Matthews
Stats that matter
Giants have the most wickets (13) among all teams in the powerplay this season.
Ash Gardner’s 17 sixes are the most by a batter this season. There is no Mumbai Indians batter in the top five.
Mumbai’s economy of 8.6 is the highest in the powerplay this season. They’ve also picked up the joint-most wickets (9) in this phase.
Shashank Kishore is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
