Mumbai: Revenge will be on their mind when Mumbai Indians (MI) lock horns with Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the hosts looking to stretch their winning run in the IPL here Wednesday.
Though the previous encounter between the two teams in Mohali had ended in a comprehensive eight-wicket win for KXIP, but home conditions at the Wankhede are expected to favour MI.
MI enter the match high on confidence following successive victories over holders Chennai Super Kings and last edition’s finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), while the Punjab outfit are coming into this match with a comprehensive six-wicket victory over Hyderabad on the back of opener KL Rahul’s brilliant 71 n o.
The Mumbai boys haven’t put up a quality show this season, barring Hardik Pandya who have been their consistent performer so far. While the younger of the Pandya brothers’ has provided the finish in the business end of the innings, Hardik would definitely want the others to provide him an even better platform to tee off in style.
For KXIP, it has been a slowish sort of display from the batsman. While it cannot be denied that they have played their last two games on conditions that weren’t best for batting, the wicket in Wankhede should aide stroke play and considering the form that the likes of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are in, they would be waiting to put on their pads and take strike.
MI will once again look up to their new recruit Alzarri Joseph, who blew away SRH with his record-breaking haul of 6/12, beside the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and left-arm Jason Behrendorff.
In bowling, skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (seven wickets) has done well in five out of six games that the team has played and has got good support from the likes of Sam Curran, Mohammed Shami and Murugan Ashwin.
