Ahmedabad: An embattled Mumbai Indians side will be desperate to arrest its slide when it takes on a confident Gujarat Titans outfit, which is eager to extend its winning run, in the Indian Premier League here on Monday.
The two teams enter the fixture having endured contrasting fortunes in recent weeks. The Titans, after opening their campaign with back-to-back defeats, have rediscovered their rhythm with three successive wins which has placed them sixth on the table.
Mumbai, in stark contrast, began with a rare opening-game victory but have since unravelled, suffering four defeats on the bounce and the margin of their losses have been huge, leaving them languishing at ninth.
For the five-time champions, it has been a season where little has clicked. Their campaign has been undermined by a combination of timid powerplay returns, inconsistent middle-order output, and a bowling attack that has lacked penetration. Much of the spotlight has been on Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma, the fulcrum of MI's middle order.
While Suryakumar has shown flashes of brilliance, including a half-century, he has struggled for consistency. Tilak, meanwhile, has been woefully out of form, managing just 43 runs in
five innings.