With the ‘Mankading’ shadow still hovering over them, a deflated Kings XI Punjab will look to get their house in order when they take on Mumbai Indians in their first Indian Premier League (IPL) home game this season at the IS Bindra Stadium on Saturday.
After beating Rajasthan Royals on the road in their opening fixture, a game infamous for Ashwin’s ‘Mankading’ Jos Buttler, Kings XI lost by 28 runs to Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. Kings XI lost the match there and while chasing, were never in the game.
Coming to Mumbai, the Rohit Sharma led side won a last-ball cliffhanger against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday night, a game marred by Lasith Malinga escaping a big last-ball no ball which the umpire missed. RCB and India skipper Virat Kohli termed the incident as “ridiculous”, saying this isn’t club cricket. But Mumbai would, nonetheless, take heart from the victory and look to continue their winning run against Punjab. Rohit got some runs under his belt but it was Jasprit Bumrah who once again showcased why he is the best bowler in white-ball cricket with his accurate stuff to choke RCB and AB De Villiers who was looking in ominous form.
KXIP expected playing 11: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ankit Rajpoot
MI expected playing 11: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga
FPJ’s dream 11 prediction: Chris Gayle, Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lasith Malinga, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah