Kings XI Punjab are coming off a week-long break, fresh and rejuvenated to face depleted Mumbai Indians in their next game tonight at Indore which will be the new home ground for their remaining fixtures of their campaign.
Both teams lost their previous fixtures. While KXIP lost against Sunrisers, Mumbai succumbed to yet another defeat against RCB on Tuesday.
Coming into this game, however, KXIP look the firm favorites to win the match keeping their form in perspective. Big names like Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, R Ashwin give them the edge over Mumbai Indians who are desperate for a win to stay in contention. On the other hand, their bowlers - notwithstanding their good performances in their previous games - might feel some pressure considering the batting-friendly tracks that have been the norm in Indore and the short boundaries. This will be another captaincy test for the shrewd R Ashwin, who has marshalled his resources well thus far. Yuvraj's form, however, will be one big question mark hovering around the Punjab camp and how long will Punjab continue with him.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, has had a season to forget so far in the tournament. Rohit Sharma's up and down form has been hurting Mumbai big time. Plus, big hitters in Krunal, Hardik and Pollard not delivering is another major concern. Bumrah with the ball has been below par and extreme at times. Suryakumar Yadav's form has been the only positive which Mumbai can draw out from the games gone by. His innovative style of play at the top is helping Mumbai get good starts, however, the feeble middle order is giving it away in the middle overs.
This game thus expects a lot to be desired from two teams as to how they play it. Since Kings XI are coming after a long break, this gives Mumbai Indians to make inroads against them as they are in desperate need of a win. Punjab, on the other hand, will be wary about Mumbai's ability to come back in the final leg of the league stages and make it big in the knockouts.
As far as team changes from both camps are concerned, Punjab might look to bring in the experienced Mohit Sharma in place of Barinder Sran who has been leaking runs at the death.
Mumbai, as per reports are thinking to bench Pollard in this game as well. This means that Evin Lewis, JP Duminy and Ben Cutting make the three overseas players with Mitchell McClenaghan the lone foreign pacer in the lineup.
Toss
Mumbai Indians have won the toss and have opted to field
Playing XI
Mumbai Indians : Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan(w), Jean-Paul Duminy, Rohit Sharma(c), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah
Kings XI Punjab : Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Axar Patel, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
