A long weekend is upon us! It will be kicked off by an equally exciting match as Mumbai Indians will take on Kings XI Punjab.
Both the teams are coming off a loss despite giving in phenomenal performances. Both the teams would be happy about how close they got but frustrated at the same time that the results didn’t go their way.
Kings XI Punjab is coming off a disappointing loss against RR. KXIP put a mammoth 223 runs on the board. They were cruising towards a victory until Rahul Tewatia smashed five sixes in an over to steal the game.
MI, on the other hand, is coming off a super over loss against RCB. The RCB batting first put up a mammoth score of 201 runs. During the chase, MI looked wobbled as they were reduced for just 78-4 in 11 overs. However, young Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard scored 99 off 58 balls and 60 off 24 balls respectively to take the side to a tie.
Mumbai Indians
MI will have to make certain changes.
Mumbai Indians will have to take care of their spin bowling. Both Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar have failed to deliver the results which we expect from them. They have experienced allrounder Jayant Yadav and talented youngster Anukul Roy. They can add one of them to the playing 11.
As per batting is concerned, Quinton de Kock hasn’t been delivering. With Ishan Kishan in, he can keep the wickets. MI should therefore consider adding the dangerous Chris Lynn in.
The pace-bowling is subject to change as well. James Pattinson has been decent but was picked apart especially in the death overs. MI might consider replacing him with Nathan Coulter-Nile or Mitchell McClenaghan.
Kings XI Punjab
KXIP looked flawless in almost every department until Rahul Tewatia stole the show. They will focus on ironing out the mistakes they made in their last match.
They may also consider replacing Sheldon Cottrell with Chris Jordan or Hardus Viljeon.
Fantasy XI team
KL RAHUL (10.5) (C) – Rahul has been extremely consistent in this IPL. He has been a run machine and will be our captain.
ROHIT SHARMA (10.5) (VC) – Hitman has looked in great touch as well. He’ll be our vice-captain.
MAYANK AGARWAL (9) – Agarwal is probably in the best purple patch of his life.
ISHAN KISHAN (8.5) – After what he did in his last match, it’s pretty self-explanatory why he makes the place.
NICHOLAS POORAN (9) – Pooran has been getting starts. Just a matter of time he converts them into big ones.
SURYAKUMAR YADAV/ CHRIS LYNN (9) – MI may replace Quinton de Kock with Chris Lynn. If not, we may move forward with Suryakumar Yadav.
KIERON POLLARD (9) – Pollard has looked in great form. Especially against spin, he can change the course of the game.
MOHD. SHAMI (9) – Shami looked phenomenal with his spell where he picked up 3 wickets in the first match and bowled well in the second as well.
JASPRIT BUMRAH (9) – Bumrah is struggling with his form. However, he did well in the super over. He can establish consistency as time passes.
RAVI BISNOI (8) – Bishnoi impressed everyone with his dynamic leg-spin.
MURUGAN ASHWIN (8) – M.Ashwin impressed everybody with his performance. He and Bishnoi ripped through the RCB batting lineup.
PREDICTION
Mumbai Indians have just been making tactical errors which can be resolved by making some changes. After top order, KXIP’s strengths are their spin twins Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin. MI, however, play spin really well as he smashed Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa in their last match. MI will therefore defeat KXIP.
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