Wednesday’s critical Indian Premier League encounter between the Mumbai Indians and the unpredictable Punjab Kings will put the five-time champions’ class and pedigree to the test once again.
A victory will give MI the much-needed boost on the points board, whilst a defeat would cause them to fall farther behind and resume their former track. In the previous iteration, MI had placed last and in the bottom ten.
With eight points from eight games, the Mumbai club is now ranked seventh, and things do not seem good for Rohit Sharma’s side.
However, the victory over Rajasthan Royals on April 30 at the Wankhede Stadium would have given the MI team a good deal of confidence after it successfully chased down a huge 212 with three balls to spare to earn two significant points.
Tim David, an Australian cricketer who was born in Singapore, orchestrated the triumph by slamming three consecutive sixes during his 14-ball undefeated 45 to wrest victory from the jaws of defeat.
While Suryakumar Yadav (55), the tall Australian all-rounder Cameron Green (44), Ishan Kishan (28), and Tilak Varma (29 not out) all made significant contributions, none could compare to the ferocity of David’s strokes.
The middle-order batsman, who is 27 years old, helped Mumbai Indians win at home by smashing five sixes and two boundaries with a strike rate above 300.
The Punjab Kings, who are renowned for playing aggressive cricket but have a shaky top order, would need a similar level of dedication.
Very few PBKS batters have contributed enough to their overall totals, with the exception of Shikhar Dhawan and to a lesser extent his opening partner Prabhsimran Singh; however, everything changed in their most recent match against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk on April 30.
MS Dhoni’s team set a challenging 200-run total, but the whole top and middle order showed up to help them win a last-ball thriller by four wickets. Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, and wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma all contributed to the historic chase after Prabhsimran and Dhawan laid a solid platform in the powerplay.
However, the team will probably have to contend with Jofra Archer of the Mumbai Indians, who returned to the game against the Rajasthan Royals and bowled his required number of overs while also taking a wicket.
The five-time IPL champs’ greatest worry is MI captain Rohit’s performance, and much will rely on him Wednesday to stabilise his team after he scored only three runs against the Royals.
the following teams:
Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Baltej Singh, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Ellis, Gurnoor Brar, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Mohit Rathee, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, M Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Matthew Short, Sikandar Raza, and Atharva Taide are the members of the Punjab Kings.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Jofra Archer, Arshad Khan, Jason Behrendorff, Dewald Brevis, Piyush Chawla, Tim David, Raghav Goyal, Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan, Duan Jansen, Chris Jordan, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Riley Meredith, Shams Mulani, Ramandeep Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Hrithik Shokeen, Tristan Stubbs, Arjun Tendulkar, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Suryakumar Yadav.
The game will begin at 7:30.
