The contest is vital to the progress of both sides in the 2016 IPL, as the tournament reaches its climax, with six of the eight competing sides still harboring ambitions of either making it into the knockout phase of the tournament, and the chance to battle for the title, or indeed to finish in one of the vital top two places in the qualifying table, and a place in the first qualifier.
The winner of the first qualifier advances direct to the Grand Final, while the loser gets a second chance, against the winners of the Eliminator fixture. Thus it can be seen how vital it is to claim one of those two spots.
The Gujarat Lions in their inaugural IPL season, have exceeded all expectations, and will go into the weekend’s fixtures sitting in second position in the table, with only the Sunrisers Hyderabad above them. Victory over the reigning Champions Mumbai will secure them at least second place, and they may even overall haul Hyderabad. Although with a superior run rate, the Sunrisers need just one win from their final two fixtures to be certain of claiming top spot.
For Mumbai, they simply must defeat the Lions if they are to have any chance whatsoever of sneaking into the top four.
They are currently occupying fifth position, level on 14 points with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders, but with an inferior run rate. Even a win against the Lions may not be enough, if results over the next couple of days go against them.
To finish with 16 points and not qualify for the knockout stages would be the first time that any side had suffered such a fate. But is a very real possibility for both Mumbai and the Lions.