MI vs PBKS – The second leg of the Indian Premier League is underway in the United Arab Emirates. The fourteenth edition of the tournament had initially started in India in March 2021 but had to be suspended midway through as the second wave of the pandemic rocked the entire nation. The second leg of the Indian Premier League began on the 19th of September as the BCCI and the IPL governing council had taken initiative to resume the tournament back in June 2021.
Fans are quite excited about the matches and the 42nd match of the tournament is set to be played between the Mumbai Indians and the Punjab Super Kings on the 28th of September. The match will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium of Abu Dhabi and will begin at 7:30 pm Indian Standard Time or IST. The two teams are placed at different positions on the points table and each team would be trying its best to qualify for the playoffs. Let us have a look at the further details of this match.
The Two Teams
The Mumbai Indians have been known for their performances in the Indian Premier League as they have won the tournament multiple times and are the defending champions. However, they have not been able to play well this time. They have suffered three consecutive defeats in this edition of the tournament and are down to the seventh spot in the points table with eight points. They lost the last match as their batters could not play very well and the team ended up losing by 54 runs to the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Mumbai Indians have just been able to secure four wins out of the ten matches it has played in the course of this edition of the tournament. Punjab Kings are better placed at the fifth spot but have the same number of points owing to a better net run rate. They were able to clinch their last match against the Sunriser Hyderabad narrowly and thus are a bit confident at the moment. The competition between teams is quite high now as there is only one spot open for the playoffs and all the four remaining teams are vying for that.
MI vs PBKS Squad News
Both teams have very good players. The Mumbai Indians have been suffering because many of its batters, like Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, have not been in good form. This was seen in the last match as well. However, the team has both a good batting as well as a bowling attack. The batting attack consists of the likes of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, and Hardik Pandya. The bowling attack boasts of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
The Punjabi Kings also boast of multiple extremely good players. Among the batters, there are star batsmen like David Warner, Chris Gayle, KL Rahul while the bowling attack led by Mohammad Shami was also quite strong. Mayank Agarwal too is a good batsman from the team who is known for his ability to adapt to any condition and score big runs. Shami has also been in good form and has picked up 13 wickets from 10 matches at an economy of 7.33 His best figure in this edition of the tournament is 3/21.
KL Rahul has a good record against the Mumbai Indians and has scored a total of 401 runs in nine matches against them at a whopping average of 57.28 which is studded with four half-centuries. The two sides have not reported any injury concerns till now.
MI vs PBKS Probable Playing XIS
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock (w), Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (c & w), Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Ravi Bishnoi, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Pitch Report
There is no official pitch report that has been made available. However, the pitch at Abu Dhabi has been known for favouring batsmen. The weather is supposed to be hot with a temperature of 36 degrees and there shall be a humidity of 59%. The two teams have played 27 matches against each other. The Mumbai Indians have won a total of 14 out of these 27 matches. The Punjab Kings on the other hand has won a total of 13 matches. They have clashed two times in the United Arab Emirates, and both have won one match each.
Conclusion
This is a crucial match for both teams. This match will decide whether they will be able to qualify for the playoffs. Therefore, we hope it will be an interesting match where we will see some serious, good cricket being played. Fans and all followers of cricket should buckle and tune in at 07:30 pm tomorrow to watch the match.
