Mumbai Indians will lock horns with Kings XI Punjab in the 24th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Mumbai on Wednesday. The game is an important one for both teams who are in the mix to qualify for the next stage of the competition. The home side are currently placed fifth with six points after five matches played and a win can take them as high as second on the league table. In the previous five meetings between both teams, it is advantage Mumbai as they've won thrice compared to Punjab's two victories.
Mumbai will enter the match high on confidence as they registered a thumping 40-run win in their previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the batting department, the team will be relying on the likes of captain Rohit Sharma, South Africa's wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock and West Indies' power hitter Kieron Pollard to score bulk of the runs, whereas on the bowling front, the onus will be on the pace trio of India's Jasprit Bumrah, West Indies' Alzarri Joseph and Australia's Jason Behrendorff to provide timely breakthroughs.
On the other hand, Punjab are placed on the third position with eight points after six matches and a big win can take them extremely close to the top of the league table. The visitors will be also coming in the match with a lot of confidence as they secured a comfortable six-wicket win in their previous match, which was also against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the batting
Mumbai Indians will lock horns with Kings XI Punjab in the 24th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Mumbai on Wednesday. The game is an important one for both teams who are in the mix to qualify for the next stage of the competition. The home side are currently placed fifth with six points after five matches played and a win can take them as high as second on the league table. In the previous five meetings between both teams, it is advantage Mumbai as they've won thrice compared to Punjab's two victories.
Mumbai will enter the match high on confidence as they registered a thumping 40-run win in their previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the batting department, the team will be relying on the likes of captain Rohit Sharma, South Africa's wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock and West Indies' power hitter Kieron Pollard to score bulk of the runs, whereas on the bowling front, the onus will be on the pace trio of India's Jasprit Bumrah, West Indies' Alzarri Joseph and Australia's Jason Behrendorff to provide timely breakthroughs.
On the other hand, Punjab are placed on the third position with eight points after six matches and a big win can take them extremely close to the top of the league table. The visitors will be also coming in the match with a lot of confidence as they secured a comfortable six-wicket win in their previous match, which was also against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the batting department, Kings XI will be relying on the likes of veteran West Indies opener Chris Gayle, young Mayank Agarwal and South Africa's David Miller to score bulk of the runs, whereas on the bowling front, the onus will be on the likes of captain Ravichandran Ashwin, England's Sam Curran and veteran pacer Mohammad Shami to produce timely breakthroughs.
Player Recommendations:
Alzarri Joseph – 8.5 Cr
First in the list of key players features Mumbai Indians' Alzarri Joseph. The right-arm pacer had an outstanding beginning in the competition as he claimed the best-ever bowling figures of 6 for 12 in the history of the tournament in the team's previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, evidence of Joseph's talent.
Lokesh Rahul – 10 Cr
Second in the list of key players features Kings Xi Punjab's Lokesh Rahul. The right-hander is having a pretty good tournament with the bat in hand as he is the leading run-scorer for the franchise with 217 runs in six innings. In the team's previous match, Rahul played a match-winning knock of 71 not out off 53 balls with the he help of seven fours and a six, a performance that served as a reminder that Rahul is in great touch.
Jasprit Bumrah – 9 Cr
Last in the list of key players features Mumbai Indians' pacer Jasprit Bumrah. The right-arm pacer is having a mediocre tournament according to his own standards as he has only managed to claim five wickets in five matches, but even then, his economy-rate of 6.75 is phenomenal to say the least, especially considering the fact that he bowled most of his overs at the back end of the innings. With such accuracy and precision, Bumrah can produce a match-winning performance any day.
Predicted Playing XI:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Rahul Chahar, Alzarri Joseph, Jasprit Bumrah, Jason Behrendorff
Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul (wicketkeeper), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ankit Rajpoot
