Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai Indians are set to face Punjab Kings in Match No.42 of the 2021 Indian Premier League on Tuesday, September 28 at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The Kings, led by KL Rahul must be high on confidence after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad at Sharjah. Although they are placed fifth in the table, with four games remaining, PBKS don’t have much room for error. MI, on the other hand, got an unexpected defeat of 54 runs by RCB. Mumbai has lost three consecutive matches in this phase. Both the teams have 8 points each and both are in competition to reach the playoffs.
Mumbai’s team is struggling with the poor form of its key players. Hardik Pandya did not play in the first two matches of this phase. When Played in the third, he failed to bat and opted not to bowl. Kieron Pollard has also not been able to do any special feat in three matches. Captain Rohit Sharma seemed to be coming back to some extent against Bengaluru, but he too has not been able to score a single half-century in this phase. Among the bowlers, apart from Jasprit Bumrah, no other player is able to perform as expected.
On the other hand, the entire fire power of Punjab’s batting is seen in the top order. The day when stars like captain KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle fail to score, the entire team fails. Against Rajasthan, the middle order batsmen of Punjab could not even chase down an easy target. The team also missed out on scoring 4 runs in the last over. In this scenario, it will be difficult for the losing team in this match to stay in the competition, as after this all matches will be do or die for them.
The pitch in Abu Dhabi is a tad on the slower side. But under the floodlights especially in the second half, batting became easier. The spinners are expected to play a massive role in this match.
