Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) will face the resurgent Mumbai Indians (MI) at a do or die battle in Mumbai on Thursday. In order to seal their play-off berth, Punjab will have to win both of their remaining clashes – against MI and RPS respectively with a fading hope that SRH loses their final league game against Gujarat Lions. This is the only way through which they could make it to the Play-offs.
IPL 2017 Live Score: Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab #IPL
Team Punjab bowled well in their last match beating the mighty KKR at the last over thriller. Captain Maxwell might be happy with the bowling and fielding performance of the team yet the top order completely failed in the absence of Hashim Amla. Key batsmen like Vohra, Guptil and Shaun Marsh have been dismissed at nominal scores like 12, 25 and 11 respectively.
Also Read: IPL 2017: Complete fixtures, schedule and time in IST with venue details
Team News for Mumbai Indians (MI)
Mumbai Indians are currently standing atop of the IPL 10 Points Table. But a couple of more defeats could literally shatter their confidence at IPL play-off round.
No doubt, MI are playing excellent cricket, but their loopholes while batting first came out in the open yesterday when men-in-blue could score just 138 from 20 overs that Warner-led SRH chased down easily with 8 balls to spare.
MI will have the golden chance to qualify into the finals if they finish the league table on top two with two successive wins against Punjab and KKR. Also, a sudden drop in the form of talented Nitish Rana is a point of concern for them. The southpaw managed just 27 from his last four outings, which is certainly a worrying sign just before the knock-out round. The first two overs of Malinga and Bumrah will eventually decide the fate of MI in this match.
Team News for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
Much of the Punjab’s batting will now revolve around the experienced troika of Glenn Maxwell, Martin Guptill and Shaun Marsh with Saha and Patel in the supportive role at middle overs if needed. They will have to play some really good cricket against Mumbai to beat them at their own home.
In bowling, KXIP’s fast bowlers Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma will lead the charge while left-arm-spinner Axar Patel will try to restrict Mumbai’s run-flow with a breakthrough. Axar’s cunning bowling in the middle overs could be crucial to tackle the big hitters like Rohit Sharma, Pandya brothers and Kierron Pollard.
MI have the best batting line up in IPL 10 and can chase down any total. Last time, Punjab went on to lose the match despite putting up a strong total of 198 runs on board courtesy Hashim Amla’s fantastic ton. MI chased down the total easily with some scintillating batting from Jos Buttler and Nitish Rana.
Predicted Playing XI (Both Teams)
Mumbai Indians (MI): Lendl Simmons, Parthiv Patel (Wicket Keeper), Nitish Rana, Rohit Sharma (Captain), Karn Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP): Manan Vohra, Martin Guptill, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell (Captain), Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket Keeper), Matt Henry, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia and Swapnil Singh.
Head to Head: Mumbai Indians (MI) have 10-9 win-lose record against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).
Match Result Prediction: Mumbai Indians (MI) will win.
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Watch it Live on SONY ESPN from 8 PM onwards.
Tags: #IPL, Indian Premier League, IPL 10, IPL 2017, Kings XI Punjab, KXIP, Live Score, MI, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, VIVO IPL, Wankhede Stadium
