Do not give Andrew Tye wickets will be the plan for the Mumbai Indians when they play the Gujarat Lions in IPL 2017 Match 35 on Saturday.
Tye has been outstanding since coming into the side, picking up 12 wickets in just five matches to give the Gujarat Lions the potency they had been missing with the ball.
With India youngsters Nathu Singh and Basil Thampi bowling with plenty of venom and fire as well, the GL bowling lineup certainly looks a whole lot better than it did at the start of IPL 2017.
That is something the Mumbai Indians will be aware of, and after a disappointing outing against the Rising Pune Supergiant, when they failed to get over the line in the chase, they will be keen to bounce back immediately with a win.
Helping them do that in this match, MI will hope, will be Krunal Pandya, who missed the last game through illness. There has been a four-day recovery period since that game, so Krunal should be okay to come into the playing XI.
If Krunal is fit, the leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who made his MI debut in the game against RPS, will be the one who is likely to sit out.
Ambati Rayudu is fit and ready now for the Mumbai Indians, but with the form of Nitish Rana, it is difficult to find a place for the veteran.
The Mumbai Indians do have a choice of dropping Parthiv Patel for Rayudu, with Jos Buttler then keeping wickets, but that is unlikely to happen.
Mitchell Johnson was decent with the ball again, and with Lasith Malinga struggling, the Australian is expected to stay in the playing XI.
GL picked up an impressive win over RCB, on the back of a really good bowling performance in the first innings of the IPL match.
James Faulkner came in for Dwayne Smith to add a bit more bowling nous to the team, and after the Australian finished with figures of 3-0-15-1, Faulkner should keep his place in the Gujarat Lions playing XI.
Spinner Ankit Soni was given a debut in the last match, and while he wasn't outstanding, he might be given another go.
Confirmed playing XI:
Gujarat Lions: Brendon McCullum, Ishan Kishan, Suresh Raina (C), Aaron Finch, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Irfan Pathan, Andrew Tye, Basil Thampi, Ankit Soni.
Mumbai Indians: Parthiv Patel, Jos Buttler, Nitish Rana, Rohit Sharma (C), Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah.
