Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma likely to miss out the game against Rajasthan, here's why

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma is likely to miss the fixture against Rajasthan on Sunday at the Abu Dhabi International Cricket stadium. This comes as the top-order batsman had sustained a hamstring injury in the nail-biting clash against Punjab last week. With India's tour of Australia around the corner, the BCCI - which has been monitoring Sharma's injury - would want the Hitman to recover fully before taking the field and to avoid any further complications. The Mumbai skipper is expected to be back in the squad for the match against Bangalore next week.

Meanwhile, West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard has been leading the side while Sharma stays off the field. Pollard had also led the team to a massive 10-wicket in their previous fixture against Chennai. 

Releasing a statement prior to the match against Chennai, Mumbai franchise had said, "Rohit Sharma has suffered left leg hamstring strain during Mumbai's last outing. Rohit has made good progress over last four days, while the management is taking one day at a time monitoring the recovery process in consultancy with BCCI. Rohit has been advised rest for the match against Chennai." 

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Rajasthan face Mumbai in a do-or-die

While Mumbai enjoy the top spot in the league standing, Rajasthan stand on the other side of the table, needing to win all their remaining fixtures to keep their dreams of qualifying alive. Steve Smith & Co. will be expected to come out all guns blazing against Mumbai as the race for the fourth spot heats up. Apart from getting off to a fiery start in the first two matches and finding their trump card in Rahul Tewatia, Rajasthan have failed to make it to the top 4 yet, despite being one of the top contenders this season. Despite the firepower of Jofra Archer, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, and Sanju Samson, the team has struggled somehow to put up match-winning performances. 

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Rajasthan sit a place above Chennai on the points table with 4 wins out of 11 matches and have an NRR of -0.620. Similar to Chennai, Steve Smith & Co will have to win their remaining fixtures, starting from the match against table-toppers Mumbai on Sunday. They will also have to ensure that they defeat KL Rahul's Punjab, which has been on a roll, winning 4 consecutive matches as they place their foot in the door for the playoffs.  Rajasthan would also need Kolkata and Hyderabad to lose all their matches and hope for Punjab to not win more than one game, since all these teams have better NRRs than Steve Smith & Co.

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