Reigning IPL champs Mumbai Indians take on Punjab Kings tonight
Defending IPL titlists Mumbai Indians will face Punjab Kings in the second game of the day on Monday night. The Sheikh Zayed Stadium will host the contest that begins at 7:30 pm (India Time).
Expected playing XI
MI
Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Adam Milne, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
PBKS
KL Rahul (C/WK), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi.
Probable best performers
Hardik Pandya
Last season, Pandya helped Mumbai Indians seal a win against Punjab. He scored 30 unbeaten off 11 balls. The all-rounder has a knack for piling up boundaries in the death over.
Punjab pace cartel needs to vary of Hardik Pandya’s power-hitting to avoid the massacre they faced last season.
KL Rahul
Rahul has been the IPL golden boy for as long as we can remember. After winning the Orange Cap last season, he has continued on the same mission in this campaign too.
He’s the third highest-run getter this season so far with 401 runs scored at an astonishing average of 57.28.
Rahul has been, however, the lone run-getter for the side. Mayan Agerwal has been inconsistent as an opener and other batters such as Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran haven’t regained their top form in a while.
Rohit Sharma
The Hitman is gradually getting into the groove. He has had slow starts in powerplays so far, but his 70-run knock against PBKS past campaign must haunt the Punjab bowlers.
Sharma has been starting the innings well with Quinton de Kock after coming off to the UAE. The decent starts have, however, gone unutilised with Kieron Pollard and other power hitters failing to build on a good foundation.
PBKS need to devise a plan to dismiss the Hitman before he goes off in the first six overs. He’s one of the few batters in the T20 cricket who are equalling devastating in late overs.
Game prediction
Mumbai Indians didn’t quite play this season like they are the defending crown-holders. While they have a reputation for getting better with every game, this hasn’t been the case in 2021.
Rohit Sharma’s men have slumped to the seventh spot in the points table after losing the last three games on the trot.
On the other hand, Punjab have seemingly found their rhythm back. After losing two games consecutively, KL Rahul and co managed to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last outing.
They are ranked fifth in the points table. Both MI and PBKS have eight points after 10 games, but a better net run rate has Punjab two spots above the reigning champions.
Given their recent performances, Punjab has slightly better chances to beat MI in a thriller tonight.
