IPL 2018, MI vs KXIP: Punjab return to the battle after a week as Mumbai look forward to reviving themselves
Kings XI Punjab will meet Mumbai Indians in the Match 34 of the Indian Premier League. The clash is the first one between the two teams this season.
Punjab will rejoin the battle after a week of break. In the last week, not a lot has changed for KXIP as they were placed at the third spot in the table earlier and they now stand at fourth. They have seven matches in total and have five wins and two losses so far. The last loss came at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad in one of their most recent outings.
This season has been great for Punjab as they have been on a roll. Their batsmen have been destroying all the bowling attacks with players like KL Rahul and Chris Gayle in their squad, the team has little to fear. The explosive innings of these players have instilled a fear in the opposition teams.
Whereas Mumbai Indians are among the losers of the Indian Premier League. Having played 8 matches, they have lost six of them. The hopes of Mumbai making it to the playoffs are hanging by a thread and they are about to be the first team to get out of the title race. They started as the defending champions but now seem to stand at the mercy of good luck.
However, there are also issues for Punjab to worry about. In the four matches Gayle has played, he has contributed around 40% to the team's scoreboard. KL Rahul has also been one of the key batsmen for them and has been contributing to the team's efforts consistently.
Mumbai Indians have a lot of players who can fire but have been inactive for some time now. Jasprit Bumrah’s four overs will be crucial for MI. The 24-year old has an economy rate of 5.11 in the powerplay, 5.62 in the middle overs, and a very respectable 8.50 in the death overs.
Kings XI Punjab
Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Akshdeep Nath Mayank Agarwal Mayank Dagar Ben Dwarshuis Aaron Finch Chris Gayle Manzoor Dar David Miller Mujeeb Ur Rahman Karun Nair Axar Patel Lokesh Rahul (W) Ankit Rajpoot Pradeep Sahu Mohit Sharma Barinder Sran Marcus Stoinis Manoj Tiwary Andrew Tye Yuvraj Singh
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah Rahul Chahar Ben Cutting Akila Dananjaya JP Duminy Ishan Kishan Siddhesh Lad Evin Lewis Sharad Lumba Mayank Markande Mitchell McClenaghan Adam Milne Mohsin Khan Mustafizur Rahman MD Nidheesh Hardik Pandya Krunal Pandya Kieron Pollard Anukul Roy Pradeep Sangwan Tajinder Singh Aditya Tare (W) Saurabh Tiwary Suryakumar Yadav
Also Read: IPL 2018: CSK insulted Sachin Tendulkar and Twitterati slammed them hard on social media
