The struggling Mumbai Indians who are in quest for their first two points of this edition are set to lock horns with the 7th placed Punjab Kings at the Maharashtra Cricket Association in Pune. The encounter will mark the 23rd match of the IPL 2022.
Mumbai Indians are having an awful season this time around and if the stars do not align in their favor soon, it might just be too late to serve any purpose. The reasons seem quite clear as they are lacking an experienced spinner in the side and hence have found it very difficult to control the leakage of runs in the middle-overs.
Tough times but the 🔥 won't go out 👊
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 12, 2022
All geared up for #MIvPBKS 💪⚔️#OneFamily #DilKholKe #MumbaiIndians MI TV pic.twitter.com/iBoqjCwF7e
Punjab Kings on the other hand are having a roller-coaster of a time as they find themselves in a very delicate position winning and losing two apiece. However, the team seems to be hungry for wins and they have made that obvious with their performances. They will come on the back of a 6-wicket loss which they suffered against Gujarat Titans.
For the five-times champions, this is a must-win encounter as a loss here could probably put their hopes of making it to the top four to rest. Can Punjab Kings put MI in a deeper hole? Or will Rohit Sharma with the help of his troops strike?
Match timings
Match Toss Time: 19:00 IST (13:30 GMT)
Match Start Time: 19:30 IST (14:00 GMT)
Match Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Head to Head
Matches played: 18, Mumbai Indians: 15, Punjab Kings: 13
Last 5 meetings: PBKS: 3, MI: 2
Notable stats
Highest run-getter in this fixture (active): Kieron Pollard (529 runs)
Highest wicket-taker in this fixture (active): Jasprit Bumrah (19 wickets)
Weather conditions and pitch
Team News
Mumbai Indians have pretty much tried all the combinations and unfortunately, nothing has been working in their favor. Yes, the return of Suryakumar Yadav has been a great boost in the middle-order but the others have failed to make any contribution. The experiment to leave out Tim David and Tymal Mills to accommodate Ramandeep Singh and Jaydev did not do all merry to MI and for that reason, we might see the two foreigners back in the line-up
Punjab Kings on the other hand were a bit harsh to replace Bhanuka Rajapaksha with Bairstow given that Bhanuka has been in exceptional form. Reality is harsh and although Bairstow did not perform well in his first match for the PBKS, we expect him to be an integral part of the franchise in the coming days. No changes are expected in the team combination.
Probable playing Xl
Mumbai Indians (MI): Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Ramandeep Singh/ Tim David, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat/ Tymal Mills, Jasprit Bumrah, Basil Thampi
Punjab Kings (PBKS): Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora, Arshdeep Singh
Must- picks
Suryakumar Yadav has been exceptional as always and since his return, he has scored two fifties in the two matches played. He along with the Punjab Kings all-rounder Liam Livingstone are two players who you just can not keep out of the fantasy line-up.
Mumbai Indians wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan and Punjab Kings opener Shikhar Dhawan are our two other Must-Picks for this encounter.
MI vs PBKS fantasy team
Captain and Vice-captain Picks
Prediction
Mumbai Indians need a win here and they will be desperate to get off the mark. However, the team's balance has not clicked yet and the fact that their star players have not contributed has made life tougher for the champion side.
Mumbai Indians have a very weak bowling lineup barring Bumrah, the others have not made any impact yet. Punjab Kings on the other hand are more balanced and with a firing line-up as their, we expect them to make easy work of the struggling Mumbai Indians.
Cricwizz predicts Punjab Kings to win match 23 of IPL 2022.
Disclaimer
All the information on Cricwizz is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. The website does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. The website will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website.
