Mullanpur (Punjab) [India], May 30 (ANI): As Mumbai Indians (MI) takes on Gujarat Titans (GT) in the eliminator match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), plenty of eyeballs will be on their pace duo of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, who have been the frontline warriors of this solid run five-time champions have enjoyed so far.

MI will be aiming to take another step closer to their sixth title and first one in five years at Mullanpur against GT, with the winner getting to join Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Qualifier two for a shot at the final. In MI's fourth-place finish in the league stage so far, Boult and Bumrah have played a massive role, having taken 19 wickets in 14 games and 17 scalps in 10 games respectively.

Both these superstars enjoy a solid IPL knockouts record to their names. In eight IPL knockout appearances, Bumrah has taken 11 wickets at a brilliant average of 17.54 and a fantastic economy rate of 6.29, showcasing his ability to put pressure on the batter at the most significant occasion. His best effort is a spell of 4/14 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the 2020 Qualifier one. However, in his previous knockout appearance, during the 2020 IPL final, he went wicketless against DC, conceding 28 runs in his four overs.

As Bumrah missed the first four IPL games due to injury, his absence affected MI hard as new-ball specialist Deepak Chahar and an inexperienced Satyanarayana Raju were forced into death overs, generating an economy rate of 11.04 in this phase from overs 17-20.

When Bumrah joined the team, he took some workload from skipper Hardik Pandya, made MI allocate Boult and Chahar's overs during powerplay, where they were at their best. Since his arrival, MI's death over economy rate is 9.48, the second-best among all teams. He has bowled like he was never injured, topping the charts for economy rate (6.33) and bowling average (14.64).

On the other hand, Boult has taken 16 wickets in 11 knockout appearances at an average of 19.12, with a solid economy rate of 7.46. His best bowling figures are 3/30, which came for MI in the final of IPL 2020 in a winning cause. In his last playoff appearance for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) last year during Qualifier two, he took 3/45 in a losing effort.

Boult has also delivered exceptional numbers in death overs during this IPL, with his 19 yorkers being the second-highest next to Avesh Khan of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who delivered 21 of them.. He also has taken four wickets at death, the most by a bowler, with a brilliant economy rate of 2.75.

Will Bumrah-Boult create magic in the eliminator?

Squads:

Gujarat Titans Squad: Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Kusal Mendis(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Gerald Coetzee, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar, Jayant Yadav, Dasun Shanaka, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu

Mumbai Indians Squad: Rohit Sharma, Jonny Bairstow(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Charith Asalanka, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashwani Kumar, Karn Sharma, Raj Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Robin Minz, Arjun Tendulkar, Raghu Sharma, Krishnan Shrijith, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Richard Gleeson, Reece Topley. (ANI)