Mumbai Indians will take on the seventh-placed Punjab Kings at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday evening. Mumbai has won three out of their five matches, whereas Punjab has won three out of their six.
Mumbai Indians:"The senior guys need to step up, starting with me. We know the nature of the IPL. We need to get some momentum, and if you don't, it is going to be tough," said Rohit Sharma in a post-match presentation after losing to CSK at home. Credit to the skipper, though, as he performed right after his words in the third match against Delhi on a sluggish pitch, bringing them the first win of the season by winning the player of the match award himself. On the other hand, Ishan and Surya were terrific against KKR, as was Tilak Varma. Tilak has been excellent since last year, taking the load off the other batters by going right from the word go. The batting is as good as it has ever been. The balance of the team looks stable as their bowling has been quite effective, with Piyush Chawla leading the way with seven scalps to his name at an economy of just 7.15, while Jason Behrendorff picks up early wickets in the powerplay, and Riley does the job in the deaths with mixing it up. On the other hand, Arjun Tendulkar was outstanding with his yorkers in the last over. It will be interesting to see whether they use him in the death overs going into the tournament. Mumbai will come into this game with their confidence soaring after back-to-back wins, and they would look to keep the winning streak going.
Probable Playing 11: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff. (Riley Meredith, Ramandeep Singh)
Punjab Kings: Punjab would have been on the same number of points as Mumbai had they beaten RCB on Thursday. But they look rickety, as the team has been consistently rejigging their playing combination. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan has missed two consecutive matches, and his absence would surely have halted them, as he was in superb form and the highest scorer of the team. At the same time, Sikandar Raza, who was their player-of-the-match against SRH in their previous game, was omitted for Liam Livingstone, who couldn't make the most of it. Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, and Liam Livingstone haven't scored many runs so far. They need to string together big partnerships, something they have failed to do. Bowling-wise, Curran, Arshdeep Singh, and Nathan Ellis have done a decent job. However, it is staggering that Rahul Chahar has only picked two wickets in six matches; he will have a bigger role to play as he knows the Wankhede conditions well. It will be interesting to see whether they bring back Rabada or make any more changes. But to get over the line against the formidable Mumbai Indians, Punjab will have to camouflage their weaknesses and puff up their strengths.
Probable Playing 11: Prabhsimran Singh, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh. (Impact players: Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide)
Key players to watch out for:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Tim David, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma.
Punjab Kings: Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Matthew Short, Nathan Ellis.
Interesting stats and facts:
- Rohit Sharma needs 3 sixes to complete 250 IPL sixes.
- Tilak Varma needs 4 fours to complete 50 IPL fours.
- Arshdeep Singh needs 1 wicket to complete his 50 IPL wickets.
- Shikhar Dhawan is just 1 fifty away from completing fifty half-centuries in IPL.
- Suryakumar Yadav is 36 runs away from completing 6000 T20 runs.
Weather and Pitch report: The weather is expected to be clear, with no chances of rain, therefore, we should have a full game. The team winning the toss will prefer to chase as this is a night game and the dew factor will play a huge role in chasing the target.
Date & Time: 22 April 2023, 7.30 PM (IST)
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Live Streaming: Star Sports network and JioCinema.
Dream 11:
