Hosts Mumbai who got off to a rather poor start have got their campaign back on track after registering back to back win over Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. Meanwhile Kings Eleven Punjab are comfortably placed on the third position in the points table after winning four out of their six games.
Head to Head
MI and Kings Eleven Punjab have played each in the IPL 23 times, with the hosts having the slender advantage winning 12 of those well contested clashes. There isn’t much to choose between the sides on Mumbai Indians home turf at Wankhede as both team have four wins out of their eight games played.
Both the teams have some power packed hitters in their line-up which could make the contest at the batting friendly Wankhede strip a high scoring affair. While Chris Gayle has shown glimpses of his destructive ability, Quinton De Cock has been providing the opening salvo for the hosts up the order.
Punjab would be happy with their dependable opener KL Rahul striking form with back to back half centuries in the last two games. Meanwhile the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Sarfaraz Khan have chipped in with meaningful knocks
Mumbai would hope that their top three batsman in Quinton De Cock, Rohit Sharma and Surya Kumar Yadav get some runs behind their back after failing to notch up big scores at the top of the order. Mumbai have some explosive firepower down the order with the likes of Hardik Pandya and Keiron Pollard . Meanwhile David Miller would be raring to showcase his clinical striking in favourable batting conditions.
Mumbai look to have the edge in the pace bowling arsenal with Jasprit Bumrah and Jason Behrendorff in their ranks. However, all eyes would be on tearaway Windies speedster Alzarri Joseph who had a terrific debut picking up a record 6 for 12 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kings Eleven Punjab have fared well as a bowling unit collectively with skipper Ashwin leading the wicket takers column with 7 wickets.
The MI vs KXIP contest could be well dubbed as the battle between Punjab’s batting and Mumbai Indians bowlers. Mumbai have generally fared well at the Wankhede and would enjoy the slight advantage playing in front of their home fans. However, Rohit's brigade won’t want to be complacent against a buoyant Punjab side who looking like one of the formidable teams of the tournament.