Mohali, May 2 (IANS): On a high after a brilliant win against Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians (MI) will now take on Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier league (IPL) bottom of the table clash here on Sunday.
Going into the encounter, the visitors are seventh whereas Kings XI are bottom placed in the standings with six and four points, respectively, from the eight matches each side has played so far.
For last year’s finalists, it has not been a pleasant ride with their batting failing more often than not. In the last game against Delhi Daredevils at Ferozeshah Kotla on Friday, Kings XI managed only 118/8 in their 20 overs. The Daredevils eased past the total with nine wickets and 37 balls to spare.
Mumbai, on the other hand, come into the encounter on the back of a big win against the Royals, where they won by eight runs. In reply to Mumbai’s 187/5, Royals only managed to reach 179/7 at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.
A head-to-head battle suggests Kings XI are slightly ahead, having won eight of the 15 encounters. Therefore, the home team will have their hopes pinned on their big guns firing on Sunday at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here.
However, it remains to be seen if they bring back their Australian duo of hard-hitters -- Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson -- hoping for a spark of genius that has been missing from their game so far this season.
Mumbai, however, will go into the away contest as a confident outfit with both their batting and bowling giving tight performances together. The onus of scoring the runs will be on the shoulders of Ambati Rayadu and skipper Rohit Sharma, who have showed glimpses of their brilliant skills with the willow.
A win for either side will strengthen their hopes of making it to the playoffs.
The squads:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Colin Munro, Aditya Tare, Jasprit Bumrah, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Pragyan Ojha, Mitchell McClenaghan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Aiden Blizzard, Akshay Wakhare, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Hardik Pandya, Jagadeesha Suchith, Unmukt Chand, Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Ben Hilfenhaus.
Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey (captain), Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, Shaun Marsh, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Rishi Dhawan, Manan Vohra, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Thisara Perera, Mitchell Johnson, Anureet Singh, Karanveer Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shivam Sharma, Parvinder Awana, Akshar Patel, Yogesh Gowalkar, Beuran Hendricks, Shardul Thakur.