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In-form Mumbai Indians eye revenge against Kings

Last updated on: April 09, 2019 18:05 IST

Mumbai Indians enter the match high on confidence following successive victories over Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

IMAGE: The in-form Mumbai Indians will be looking to continue their winning run when they take on Kings XI Punjab at home. Photograph: BCCI

Revenge will be on their mind when Mumbai Indians lock horns with Kings XI Punjab, the hosts looking to stretch their winning run in the Indian Premier League, in Mumbai, on Wednesday.

 

The previous encounter between the teams in Mohali ended in a comprehensive eight-wicket victory for Kings XI, but home conditions at the Wankhede stadium are expected to favour Mumbai Indians.

Mumbai enter the match high on confidence following successive victories over holders Chennai Super Kings and last edition's finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Significantly, both these victories came mostly because of MI's all-round bowling strength, as the bowlers defended totals successfully.

Mumbai are also blessed with splendid batting firepower in the end overs from India all-rounder Hardik Pandya and West Indian Kieron Pollard.

Kings XI, who received a shot-in-the-arm following their six-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday, need to chip away at the top of Mumbai's batting as well as ensure that the big-striking Pollard and Hardik don't take away the game, like they did when carving 45 runs in the last two overs against CSK to turn the game around.

IMAGE: Hardik Pandya, left, and Kieron Pollard have provided the batting firepower for Mumbai in the final few overs. Photograph: BCCI

Mumbai don't have anyone in the top-20 run scorers' list this season, an indication of the depth in their batting, but have a superior fast bowling attack, bolstered by the inclusion of West Indian pacer Alzarri Joseph, who blew away Sunrisers with a record-breaking haul of 6/12 in Hyderabad in their previous game.

The hosts have a formidable pace attack with Jasprit Bumrah and left-arm Jason Behrendorff also there, along with Joseph and Hardik, to utilise the bounce and carry on the Wankhede track.

Kings XI, third on the table with eight points, are top heavy in batting, with K L Rahul and Mayank Agarwal leading the way with 200-plus aggregates and the indomitable Gayle too not far behind.

In the bowling department, skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (7 wickets) has done well in five out of six games that the team has played and got good support from the likes of Sam Curran, Mohammed Shami and Murugan Ashwin.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock (w/k), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Alzarri Joseph, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Ankul Roy, Evin Lewis, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ben Cutting, Ishan Kishan (wk), Aditya Tare, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Jayant Yadav.

Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), KL Rahul (w/k), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Karun Nair, Moises Henriques, Varun Chakravarthi, Harpreet Brar, Simran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi.

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