Punjab Kings will look to make the most of home comforts when it meets Mumbai Indians in its third consecutive Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.
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Despite coming off two straight defeats, Kings will fancy a campaign revival against a Mumbai side that finds itself in a bind, both on and off the field, not least after succumbing to a morale-sapping 20-run loss to league rival Chennai Super Kings at home.
MI’s predicament is such that it would breathe a sigh of relief as it embarks on a four-match-long stint on the road, away from the Wankhede Stadium, which has seen a large portion of the crowd vociferously express its disapproval of newly appointed skipper Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder’s horrific 26-run last over against CSK, which proved decisive, seems to have stemmed from that show of public displeasure.
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Mumbai showed signs of having moved on from the captaincy switch after notching back-to-back wins against Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Former skipper Rohit Sharma’s blazing starts in the PowerPlay, with Ishan Kishan, were instrumental in both victories, while his unbeaten hundred, almost 12 years apart from his last three-figure mark in the IPL, against Super Kings was testament to a telling departure from seven successive middling seasons, during which he crossed the 400-run staging post only once and never struck in excess of 135.
This season, Mumbai’s top seven batters have been striking in excess of 140 and that will give the five-time champion some hope.
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On the other hand, Punjab will fret over the woeful form of its top order, which was the primary reason it failed to cross the line in close finishes against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals. That its top scorer and captain Shikhar Dhawan is still nursing a shoulder injury will only add to the host’s worries.
Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma have admirably propped up the batting from lower-order positions and Kings would do well to give them a promotion.
Punjab has a well-rounded bowling attack, and with Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh and stand-in skipper Sam Curran finding their feet across different phases of the game, and Mumbai’s power-packed line-up will have its task cut out.
But a certain Jasprit Bumrah, armed with a pitch that has seen the new ball jag around and keep low at times, could exacerbate Punjab’s batting vulnerabilities and prove decisive.
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