The Mumbai Indians clash with the Kings XI Punjab in match 36 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Here's the breakdown.
The SWOT for MI
Strengths: The batting is in superb form. Quinton de Kock has three fifties, Rohit Sharma has two and Suryakumar Yadav has two. Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard have also notched a fifty each. The bowlers are also on song.
Weaknesses: There are no obvious chinks in MI’s armour. They have all the bases covered.
Opportunities: Nathan Coulter-Nile could not impress in his first outing. He should get another game to get match practice and find his rhythm. That will also give James Pattinson a break.
Threats: Do the bowlers warming the bench need to be tried out? Rohit Sharma hasn’t felt the need to make many changes to the bowling. Like Coulter-Nile, others may need to match time in the league phase.
The SWOT for KXIP
Strengths: The batting is in better shape with the return of Chris Gayle. KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Gayle and Nicholas Pooran as the top four are formidable and each has the ability to get quick runs. Glenn Maxwell needs to join the party.
Weaknesses: The bowling is weak and unsettled. Rahul has used 11 bowlers so far. Only Mohammad Shami and Ravi Bishnoi have proved to be genuine wicket-takers. Sheldon Cottrell and Chris Jordan have gone for too many runs. Should someone else on the bench be tried out or does the attack instead need consistency?
Opportunities: They will be more confident after a win over RCB. They are last in the table but they are actually not far from the next team. They will need to be at their best to tackle the no. 1 team in the league.
Threats: Is the fight for a play-off spot still possible? Winning six out of six is their only viable path.
Head to head:
Matches played: 25
Mumbai Indians: 14
Kings XI Punjab: 11
Last five matches (most recent first):
Mumbai Indians: W-W-W-W-W
Kings XI Punjab: W-L-L-L-L
What happened in the reverse fixture?
The MI bowlers were the stars as the team won by 48 runs. A 70 from Rohit Sharma and 47 not out from Kieron Pollard were also telling.
Deccan Herald’s Dream XI
KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Chris Gayle, Quinton de Kock (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Bishnoi, Rahul Chahar, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
Team news
No injuries reported from the two teams.
Ground conditions
The sky will be hazy with the temperature around 28 degrees Celsius. The humidity will be about 13% with a light wind.
Impact player for MI
Jasprit Bumrah: The speedster has got 12 wickets, which is the most for his side. He will be important for Rohit to deal with the threat of KXIP’s top four batsmen.
Impact player for KXIP
Chris Gayle: He hit a fifty in his first match of the season. Gayle gives much-needed weight to KXIP’s batting. He must rack up more substantial scores to lift the fortunes of the team.
How to watch
The match will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network. Viewers can also catch the action online on Disney+Hotstar. The match begins at 7.30 PM IST.
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