The 40th game of the Indian Premier League will see the Mumbai Indians take on the King XI Punjab, a game to be hosted by the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both sides go into the game, having been crushed in their previous encounter.
Mumbai v Punjab odds:
The Mumbai Indians (1/2 at
Stan James) were at the top of the points only a couple of days back, but with Kolkata and Rajasthan having won their previous games, the Mumbai side have fallen to the third spot now. The Mumbai Indians, however, will understand that it was an off-day against the Rajasthan Royals and they need not panic given the team that they have.
Kings XI Punjab (15/8 at
BetFred) have won and lost three games. They were on a three-match winning streak before going down to Delhi in a high-scoring game and then to Kolkata in a low-scoring encounter. Losing the momentum in the middle of the tournament is the last thing that they would want and a loss here will be their third in a row.
Ground and Pitch:
The Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar had acknowledged at the end of the previous game that they had had no experience of playing at a surface like the one at Jaipur. He cited the reason as being accustomed to the bouncy pitch at Wankhede, which is what it should be for this game too.
Player News:
Mumbai Indians, despite their loss, should not look to make any changes to the line-up. Instead, they may shuffle the batting-order a tad – Kieron Pollard (10/1 at
Boylesports) may be batting a tad too low for comfort while Andrew Symonds (13/2 at
bet365) would also prefer the number four slot. Sachin Tendulkar (2/1 at
Blue Square) sets very high standards for himself while batting and in the last three games, he hasn’t been able to live up to them. He will look to regain his Orange Cap back that Virat Kohli currently holds.
Kings XI Punjab’s batting floundered against the Kolkata Knight Riders and they can expect a similar, if not better, throttling bowling from the Mumbai Indians. Adam Gilchrist (7/2 at
bet365) needs an explosive start and it will be interesting to see how Paul Valthaty (4/1 at
Blue Square) goes against the city for which he was to play first class cricket at the beginning of his career.
What Punjab will need is for their middle-order to be able to overcome Lasith Malinga and the Mumbai spinners and not let the run-rate drop. A lot could depend on how Shaun Marsh (4/1 at
Boylesports) and David Hussey (11/2 at
Paddy Power) bat. Marsh has had a couple of good ones but was run-out in the previous match while Hussey has a big innings pending from his bat.
Prediction:
Mumbai Indians should win this but they will understand that Punjab have a couple of batsmen who can turn things around with freak-shows.
