The match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians is expected to be an interesting one with Mumbai Indians doing very well in IPL 2017 and Kings XI struggling in their recent games.
Kings XI Punjab are fifth in the IPL, having lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 runs in their last game. They also lost to Delhi Daredevils by 51 runs and to Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets.
Mumbai Indians have been in spectacular form beating Gujarat Lions by 6 wickets, Royal Challengers Bangalore by 4 wickets and Sunrisers Hyderabad by 4 wickets. They are clear favourites to win this match as well.
They have in fact been to their best ever start in the IPL, having won four of their last five games. This is impressive because Mumbai Indians are notorious for being slow starters in the IPL, who make up in the latter half of the tournament.
They are clear favourites for this match as Kings X1 look very weak. Their overseas contingent of batsmen: Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Eoin Morgan and Hashim Amla, have not clicked so far in this IPL. They were able to score only 24 runs together. It was only the young Indian player Manan Vohra’s brilliant 95 that kept them in the hunt.
Miller has been very poor and has been surviving on past reputation. He has the 2nd lowest strike-rate, just 103.75 among the 30 batsmen who have faced at least 65 balls in IPL 2017. He could lose his spot for this match to either Shaun Marsh or Martin Guptill.
Mumbai Indians have a very settled outfit in comparison. Captain Rohit Sharma has been batting deeper down the order, at No. 4, so that he can play out the end overs. Young Nitish Rana has been doing great at No. 3 and the Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal have been star contributors for the team in almost every game.
The Teams
Kings XI Punjab: 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 David Miller, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Mohit Sharma, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 KC Cariappa, 11 Ishant Sharma
Mumbai Indians: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Rohit Sharma (capt), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Lasith Malinga
Watch Kings XI Punjab take on Mumbai Indians live from Indore this April 20, 2017 at 8 pm on Sony Six!
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