Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings, September 28 2021, 7:30 PM IST
It’s not yet a do-or-die situation for both Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians, but they’re fast approaching the position of desperateness. Mumbai Indians – the 5-time IPL champions and the defending champions, are on a 3-match losing streak, since the tournament got shifted to the United Arab Emirates.
The batting has been the biggest let-down, especially the so-called engine room which has failed to fire. Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya – the chief architects of many heists, have drawn a blank and which has led to the downfall of Rohit Sharma’s men.
It’s not yet crunch time, four wins from the remaining four games and the Mumbai Indians could still be true. But there’s one thing for sure – the aura of invincibility that has surrounded them previously hasn’t quite happened this season. They’re up against the Punjab Kings – who have once again shown the ability to choke under little or no pressure.
If the so-called ‘one run short’ came back to haunt them last time around, the inability to close down the chase against the Royals could come back to bite them hard. But as things stand, both teams are in the middle of a cluster of four teams with 8 points each and as such have an equal chance at qualifying to the playoffs.
MI win the toss and bowl first
Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first, further explaining his decision saying, “We’ll look to bowl first. Just a team plan, nothing specific. It’s a good pitch to bat on, so pretty simple actually. As a team we do understand where we stand at the moment and we also understand that we haven’t played to the best of our potential.
We know where we’ve made mistakes and hopefully we can correct it tonight. Because of where we stand at the moment, we have had to make some difficult changes which we didn’t want to do. “
Mumbai Indians have made two changes to their team. Ishan Kishan is dropped and Saurabh Tiwary comes in his place. Milne dropped and Nathan Coulter-Nile comes into the squad.
On losing the toss, the PBKS captain KL Rahul said,”I was a bit confused at the toss. Don’t mind batting first and we need to assess what a good total would be. Not much to fix, it’s important to realize that we are a team that has capitalized on good starts.
We haven’t handled pressure really well. But when our backs are against the wall, we have done really well. We need to be a bit brave and trust our instincts. We need to trust our basics and not worry about the results.”
One change in PBKS’s team. Mayank Agrawal left out due to stiff back. Mandeep Singh comes in his place.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
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