The Cricketer takes a look at the next fixture in the 2022 Indian Premier League season
Mumbai Indians will take on Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League.
The game will be played on Wednesday, April 13. The first ball will be bowled at 7:30pm local time (3pm GMT).
The match will be held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
Five-time winners Mumbai Indians have struggled to find form so far in this tournament, losing all four of their games. Their batting has been their biggest problem, in particular their scoring rate in the middle overs.
Suryakumar Yadav has been their best asset, scoring a quickfire 68 off 37 balls in their last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Their problems in the batting department come from a lack of depth, with their star overseas player Kieron Pollard not reproducing the results he has done in recent years. They are overly reliant on Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma at the top of the order.
It was an odd decision to drop Tymal Mills in their last game where they only fielded two overseas players. Mills has been their most effective pace bowler of the tournament.
Punjab Kings have had a fairly mixed tournament so far winning two out of their four matches. They were only narrowly defeated in the last match against Gujarat Titans thanks to some final over heroics from Rahul Tewatia.
The star man for them has undoubtedly been Liam Livingstone who has accelerated their run rate in the middle order with a strike rate so far of 190.59 and an average of 40.50. They also found a spot for Jonny Bairstow in their line-up last time out who further strengthens their batting line-up.
Their bowling is perhaps their weakness. Their attack hinges on Rahul Chahar and Kagiso Rabada and lacks the depth they enjoy in their batting department.
Shikhar Dhawan will lead an all-star batting line-up [Rodger Bosch/Getty Images]
Punjab’s top order of Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Bairstow and Livingstone vs the Mumbai bowlers of Jasprit Bumrah and Mills, should he return, will be key. If Mumbai can stop Punjab’s top order from getting off to a flyer, that will give them a chance of getting a win on the board.
Equally, if Rohit and Kishan can get the Indians out of the blocks quickly they stand a chance of posting a big score, especially if Yadav continues his impressive form and Pollard can find his feet.
The only way the Indians stand a chance of winning the fixture is if they can keep up with the strike rate the Kings are capable of.
Matches played: 27
Chennai Super Kings wins: 14
Royal Challengers Bangalore wins: 13
It will continue to be hot after the sun goes down in Pune with temperatures staying above 30 degrees Celsius.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan, Basil Thampi, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, N Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Anmolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Aryan Juyal, Dewald Brevis, Riley Meredith, Fabian Allen, Tim David, Daniel Sams, Tymal Mills
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell
Ishan Kishan [Pankaj Nagia/Getty Images]
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma ©, Ishan Kishan (wk), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, N Tilak Varma, Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Murugan Ashwin, Tymal Mills, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Unadkat
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal ©, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Odeon Smith, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Kagiso Rabada
Bet365 have Punjab as the favourite at 4/5 with Mumbai Indians at evens. Paddy Power has the same odds.
Punjab’s potential for power-hitting gives them the favourites spot going into the fixture. Although Mumbai could spring a surprise if they manage to take quick wickets, form points towards a Punjab win.
In the UK, Sky Sports have exclusive rights to this year's tournament, with matches available on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket.
Fans in India can watch all of the action on Star Sports.
Elsewhere in the world, viewers in Australia can watch the IPL on Fox Sports while in New Zealand, Sky Sport will provide coverage.
Willow TV and Flow Sports will broadcast the tournament in the United States and the Caribbean, respectively.
Fans in MENA can catch the action on beIN Sports while in South Africa, SuperSport have the rights.
The IPL can also be streamed on Disney+ and Hotstar in certain areas.
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