Mumbai Indians will lock horns with Punjab Kings in the 23rd match of IPL 2022 on Wednesday at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Mumbai Indians, who have lost all of their games thus far, will be desperately looking to get their first win of the season when they meet Punjab. Another two successive defeats will make it very difficult for the five-time champions to qualify for the playoffs.
The Mayank Agarwal led side lost a nail-biting thriller against Gujarat Titans a couple of nights ago and now have 2 wins and as many losses in 4 matches.
The return of Suryakumar Yadav from injury has boosted Mumbai's batting line up. Yadav has two half centuries in as many games but has not found much help from the other batsmen. Ishan Kishan, the most expensive player of this season, scored two fifties in his first two games but failed to get going in his last two outings.
Punjab will be hoping that the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Shahrukh Khan make contributions with the bat.
It can be noted that the bowling of both Punjab and Mumbai has been substandard so far. Both the teams have the worst economy rates this season - 9.41 and 9.13, respectively. With the Pune pitch being largely pace friendly, the quicks of both the games will have to step in this encounter.
Probable Playing XIs:
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (w), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Fabian Allen/Tim David, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Jasprit Bumrah, Basil Thampi/ Tymal Mills
Punjab Kings
Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow (w), Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora, Arshdeep Singh
Image credit: IPL
