Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians look to get back to winning ways

Both the Kings XI Punjab and the Mumbai Indians will be scratching their heads as to how they find themselves with two defeats from their first three matches. It is hardly believable that amidst all the individual standout performances so far in the tournament from their star players, the two teams facing off later in the day will find themselves languishing at the bottom by the end of it. While the Mumbai Indians staged a comeback tying the game against RCB, only to lose the game anticlimactically in the Super over, the Kings XI will feel hard done by to have lost a game they were ahead of for 37 of the 40 overs. 

Kings XI Punjab in their three games have had their two openers from Karnataka firing on all cylinders. KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal have by far looked the best opening partnership in the tournament. However, Nicholas Pooran’s finishing abilities displayed in the game against the Royals proves they have batting to come beyond the in-form duo. The lower middle order has stayed relatively untested, however there is no reason to believe they cannot contribute on the day the team needs them. 

In contrast, the Kings will be slightly fretful of their bowlers’ form, especially at the death. While they may have dismissed Royal Challengers Bangalore for 107, their death bowling between the 17th and the 20th over has leaked 92 runs from 33 balls in the other two games. While some of it could be written off owing to the size of the ground at Sharjah, Kings XI will hope for a better performance from their bowlers at a substantially larger Abu Dhabi.

Mumbai Indians will be encouraged by the fight their batting showed in their previous game against RCB. The form of West Indian Kieron Pollard will be a huge positive for MI going forward. Ishan Kishan might have needed a fortuitous route back into the team, but Mumbai’s batting now dons a dangerous and stable outlook. Quinton de Kock is yet to have an authoritative impact on the game, and the day he achieves that, Mumbai will have much to cheer about given the rest of their batting looks in fine fettle.

The same cannot be said about their bowling. Except for the game against KKR, the MI bowling, which on-paper looks world class, has failed to defend 162 in the first game and given away 201 in their third. Krunal Pandya’s returns of 70/1 in 8 overs will be a cause for concern for the MI think tank. Jasprit Bumrah has gone for runs in the two innings where his team needed him the most at the death.

With both the teams going into the game on the back of losses, Kings XI and MI will be hoping for a quick turnaround in their fortunes. Playing at Abu Dhabi which features much larger outfields will be a cause for relief for the scarred Kings XI bowlers. Mumbai might have a slight edge over their opponents on the evening, given they have played two games at the venue of tonight’s game while their opponents are yet to familiarise themselves with the conditions in Abu Dhabi. By the end of the day, one of the two teams will have registered three defeats from their first four games, a position both the teams will be fighting hard to avoid.