WHAT NEXT?

After seven consecutive defeats, struggling Mumbai Indians take on Lucknow Super Giants, hoping to arrest slide

Virtually out of the playoff race and struggling on multiple fronts, a horribly out-of-sorts Mumbai Indians will need a special team effort to arrest their slide when they take on Lucknow Super Giants in a return-leg IPL fixture on Sunday.

With seven defeats in as many matches, MI are winless this season and are languishing at the bottom with nothing going right for the five-time champions, who have failed to win the crunch moments and will need a miracle to make it to the playoffs.

Lucknow, on the other hand, have looked in good touch with four wins from seven matches but they are coming into the match after suffering a 18-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

However, the fact that LSG beat

MI by 18 runs in their first leg will give them confidence.

MI have done well in patches but never looked as a unit, prompting former Australian batter Chris Lynn to stir speculations of a rift within the camp following their last defeat to Chennai Super Kings on Thursday.

The defeat also handed MI the dubious record of becoming the first team in IPL history to lose its first seven matches in a season.

Skipper Rohit Sharma too seemed clueless as to what is going wrong for the team.

"It's hard to put a finger on anything, but we're not starting well in the match. If you lose quick wickets, you'll always be playing the catching game," Sharma had said after their last match.

One of the reasons for MI's downfall is the poor form of their openers Sharma and Ishant Kishan.

While both were out for a duck against CSK, Kishan has fared slightly better than his skipper, scoring 191 runs against 114 runs by Sharma.

Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav have produced some good knocks, while young Dewald Brevis too shone in a few matches. With just 96 runs, all-rounder Kieron Pollard has failed to live up to the expectations of the franchise.

In bowling, MI have mostly relied on Jasprit Bumrah.

While Daniel Sams came good against CSK with four wickets, domestic veteran Jaydev Unadkat's failure to defend 17 runs in the final over sums up their campaign.