(Cricket news) Winless Mumbai Indians take on the mighty Punjab Kings as the men from Mumbai will look to get their season back on track. MI are building a team for the future as players like Tilak Verma and Dewald Brevis are just 18 and are already facing the best bowlers in the world. It will take time but for them they need to take it one match at a time and hopefully get a victory which can kick start their season.
For MI, Rohit Sharma is on the verge of making history, he is 25 runs short of reaching 10,000 runs in T20 cricket. He will be the second Indian after Virat Kohli and seventh overall player to reach the landmark. However, Rohit Sharma is going through his worst phase of form in his MI career as he is enduring his second-longest run without an IPL fifty (12 innings) since moving to Mumbai in 2011. MI’s bowling over the years have been their strong suit but this season there bowlers have been all over the place, not bowling the correct line and length as there is too much pressure on Jasprit Bumrah to take wickets. With plenty of right-handed batters in the PBKS set-up, there could be a case to bring in Fabian Allen to partner alongside Murugan Ashwin and go with two proper spinners in the team.
PBKS will still have nightmares over their last ball defeat against the Gujarat Titans as Mayank Agarwal and co will hope for a different outcome. The Mayank Agarwal-led side have had their fair share of moments of brilliance and faltered with equal ease, not too different from their performances in the past season. Most of their worries have come in the bowling department as the bowlers as a collective unit are not clicking. Kagiso Rabada is the leader in the bowling department but he too has been sub par this season, Odeon Smith on the other hand has been exceptional with the bat but in terms of bowling he's been hit all around the park. The PBKS management might look to drop Smith and play an unknown quality in Benny Howell. With four right handers in the top six, Rahul Chahar becomes a key figure in the line as he could come in handy in the middle overs. PBKS hopes will again rest on Liam Livingstone who is currently in the form of his life.
Pitch and weather report: The weather is expected to be slightly hot as the temperature is going to hover around 30 degrees Celsius with low humidity, which could mean that dew shouldn't play as big a role. The Pune pitch has been a high scoring venue but slower ballers get assistance from the pitch because the pitch is a two paced wicket.
Interesting facts:
- Mumbai and Kings have the worst economy rates in the IPL conceding 9.41 and 9.13 rpo
- Since IPL 2017, Kieron Pollard has the highest strike rate (219) and the second-highest average (100.70) against the kings
- Kings have a run rate (10) in the powerplay and have only been scoring at 10.57 per over in the backend overs, which is the third-worst out of all teams.
- Shikhar Dhawan is 89 runs away from completing 6000 runs in IPL
- Ishan Kishan will make his 50th appearance for MI
- Pollard is 4 catches away from becoming the second man after Suresh Raina to take 100 catches in the IPL
Also read: CSK bounce from 4 consecutive defeats with a win against RCB
Probable XI for MI:
1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Dewald Brevis, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Fabian Allen, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Tymal Mills, 11 Jaydev Unadkat/Basil Thampi
Probable XI for PBKS:
1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Mayank Agarwal (capt), 3 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jitesh Sharma, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Odean Smith/Benny Howell, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Arshdeep Singh
