Mumbai Indians’ team has been on role early on, they lost their previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets after the visitors were bundled out on 138 in 20 overs, before hosts chased down the target of 139 in 18.2 overs, in the recent match of the ongoing edition of IPL 2017.
Mumbai Indians has so far played 12 matches in which they won nine and lost three to amass 18 points with two matches remaining. Moreover, it’s the first side to qualify for the playoffs of the tenth edition.
After looking rusty in their previous game, Rohit Sharma-led side would be aiming to win the remainder of the games, in a bid to remain at the top of points table in group stage to boost their morale.
On the other side, Kings XI Punjab side led by Glenn Maxwell would be aiming to win remaining matches in order to wait for other results which seems highly improbable.
For Kings XI it’s more like a do-or-die situation and their aim is to win the remaining matches by giving their best in all the departments – to have a better look at the other results with fingers crossed over the enticing points table.
Previous Encounters:
In 19 matches both teams have played so far, Mumbai Indians registered 10 wins whereas, Kings XI Punjab has claimed nine. It further shows how both teams have fought against each other.
This season, Mumbai Indians has already won a high-scoring game against Kings XI by eight wickets and 27 balls to spare thanks to the blazing knocks of Nitish Rana and opener Jos Butler after Hashim Amla smashed a fine ton for hosts at Holkar Stadium in Indore.
While batting first Kings XI posted 198 for four on board before Blue brigades top-order smashed hosts bowlers all-around the park to seal a convincing win.
Recent Form:
MI – L W W W L
KXIP – L W W L W
Talking Points:
Skipper Rohit Sharma would have liking to score crucial runs for the team while being consistent in the remainder of the group matches before taking a field in crucial games in the play-off stage.
West Indies opener Lendl Simmons, who had a good outing in his first match, failed to deliver against Sunrisers Hyderabad’s decent bowling attack.
An opening batsman, who has the liking to go over the top early on, is expected to deliver this time while scoring quick runs for Mumbai to provide early impetus to its blend of youth and experience in the middle-order either to chase down the target or set the total for their decent bowling attack to defend.
In the bowling department, the hosts would solely rely on their premier fast bowlers in the form of Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan and spinner Harbhajan Singh and fast bowler Hardik Pandya, who mix his bowling well in a bid to contain the batsmen, but that has been off little success.
Mumbai Indians batsmen are supposed to give their best against fast bowling threat Sandeep Sharma, who has a good outing with the ball. It would be interesting to see how they will face left-arm orthodox spinner Axar Patel as well.
Having the decent record, Mumbai are the favourites and spin bowling would be pretty effective on this track as they have the best economy rate of 6.83 in this ongoing season.
Interestingly, being on role at home in this season, hosts lost their only match at home against Rising Pune Supergiant.
The best thing for Mumbai Indians has been that their young prospects has delivering even when seniors failed to compensate in couple of matches before rising to the occasion.
It’s highly unlike to see Krunal Pandya making into the Playing XI even after he was seen practicing alongside his teammates.
Mumbai would be itching to save him for the best as we might witness couple of changes in the side after delivering best so far in this season while banking on each other particularly on the bowling front which at times compensated for the batsmen.
So far in 174 matches, Mumbai side has claimed 99 wins and it would be interesting to see Men in Blue going into triple figure mark at home.
Here’s the Predicted XI Of Mumbai Indians:
Lendl Simmons, Parthiv Patel (wicket keeper), Rohit Sharma (skipper), Nitish Rana, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah.