Mumbai were never in the hunt against RCB until the young Ishan Kishan and the veteran Kieron Pollard featured in an incredible fighting partnership. Kishan was particularly brilliant, unlucky to be dismissed for 99 at the fag end of the chase, while Pollard demonstrated that he can still hit the ball a long way. Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar had an off-day, but they will be expected to come good.
Although it is a bit too early, Mumbai will be worried with the poor form of their key paceman Jasprit Bumrah, who just hasn’t got his line an length right. James Pattinson too was disappointing in the last game, but Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar were highly impressive.
Shifting focus to KXIP, they batted incredibly well to post 223 against RR. The in-form openers Mayank Agarwal and skipper KL Rahul put on a mammoth 183, with Agarwal registering a ton this time and Rahul chipping in with 69. They will hope for bigger contributions from big-hitters Glenn Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran.
Punjab will be eager for significant improvement in the bowling, which was taken to the cleaners last game. Sheldon Cottrell conceded the famous five sixes in an over while Mohammed Shami too was taken for plenty even though he was among the wickets again. Except for leggie Ravi Bishnoi, the others failed to keep the runs down.
Head to Head Record: Mumbai Indians have a slight edge, having won 13 of 24 matches against Punjab, with the latter winning 11.
MI Predicted XI: Quinton de Kock (w), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, James Pattinson, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
KXIP Predicted XI: Mayank Agarwal, Lokesh Rahul (w/c), Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, James Neesham, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Pitch Report
The surface at Abu Dhabi has something for both batsmen and bowlers. Delhi couldn’t chase 162 against SRH.
Weather conditions
The weather will be hot. Maximum temperature will be 38 and humidity 37.
--Renin Wilben