Mumbai Indians (MI) will face Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Match 43 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at Visakhapatnam on Friday. MI need to win each of their remaining matches to reach the playoffs, while KXIP are officially out of the tournament. MI will be confident of themselves after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their last match, chasing down a moderate total despite the top order failing. Once again Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler came to MI’s rescue, ensuring a crucial win that keeps MI in the hunt. Live Cricket Scorecard: Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2016 Match 43 at Visakhapatnam. Full Cricket Scorecard: Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2016 Match 43 at Visakhapatnam
MI are still not clear of danger. They need to win their remaining matches in order to qualify, and a stumbling block here will spell their doom. Kings XI Punjab are a side with nothing to lose and therefore they will have the freedom to play around with their combination and play aggressive cricket. MI will need to be slightly conservative by comparison.
KXIP have not won much recently, but ever since Murali Vijay took over as captain they have managed to compete hard against the opposition. They are no longer a side with backbone, which seemed to have been the case earlier in the tournament. The complete lack of form from David Miller has been a massive let-down for KXIP, and though Glenn Maxwell has scored a few runs he too has been a disappointment by his own standards.
Vijay has looked by far the best batsman for KXIP but even he has not been able to lift the side past the eighth spot on the IPL 9 points table. With only a few matches to go, he will want KXIP to end on a positive note by spoiling the party for a few teams. A win over MI will certainly go a long way in ensuring that.
MI have yet to click as a cohesive unit. Unlike RCB or Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) or even KXIP, MI do not have any glaring weaknesses that opposite teams can capitalize on. It has just been a matter of MI failing to sustain momentum for an extended period of time.
The match is being played at Vizag, which has already seen some good cricket over the last few games. MI certainly hold the advantage but KXIP cannot be ruled out either. With everything on the line, MI will need to come out swinging, but do so carefully. KXIP have no restrictions, which makes them the more dangerous side. An interesting contest awaits us.
Time: 20:00 IST | 14:30 GMT
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Martin Guptill, Kieron Pollard, Tim Southee, Vinay Kumar, Jos Buttler, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell McClenaghan, Unmukt Chand, Marchant de Lange, Akshay Wakhare, Corey Anderson, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Gopal, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia, Suchith, Kishore Kamath, Nathu Singh, Krunal Pandya.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP): Murali Vijay (c), David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchel Johnson, Kyle Abott, Farhaan Behardien, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Mohit Sharma, Gurukeerat Singh, Manan Vohra, Sandeep Sharma, Hashim Amla, Akshar Patel, Rishi Dhawan, Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Shardul Thakur, Anureet Singh, K C Carriappa, Nikhil Naik, Arman Jaffar, Pradeep Sahu.
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is an animal lover and comic, film and TV geek. A fast bowler at heart, he enjoys watching a good, low-scoring game of cricket. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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