It will be a battle of two teams desperate for momentum and making a climb at the points table as the five-time champions Mumbai Indians lock horns against the Punjab Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Both teams have been able to secure only two wins from the six matches they have played so far. While the Punjab Kings currently stand at no.7, MI are a place below their opponents at no.8.

Hardik Pandya’s men will be eyeing a change of fortunes after going down against arch-rivals CSK on Sunday. The team’s batting order crumbled against the Super Kings while an irrepressible Rohit Sharma stood his ground to score a century, which went in vain.

The Punjab Kings, on the other hand, had a gruelling encounter against the Rajasthan Royals in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan on Saturday. However, the team failed to secure a win after having managed to score 147 runs despite a fightback from Kagiso Rabada in bowling. The 2014 runner-ups will be counting on performances from their English batting line-up of Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone on their home turf.

Pitch Report

The Mullanpur pitch offers a lot of help to pacers in the initial phases of the game. However, the dew will have a role to play for the teams batting second. Punjab managed to win their first match against the Delhi Capitals, chasing down 175 runs but lost to SRH and RR in the next two.

As the stadium hosts its fourth-ever match of the league, it has offered a slight advantage to teams batting second with two games going down in their favour.

Head-to-head

Both teams have met on 31 occasions over the years, where the five-time champions are up with a narrow margin of 16-15, winning their last encounter against the hosts. However, in their previous five meetings, the Punjab Kings have edged past their opponents on three occasions.

In a clash of two struggling sides desperate for a spot in the top-4, it will be an interesting battle at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium.

Fantasy XI

Jonny Bairstow (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Sam Curran, Tim David, Hardik Pandya (c), Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada, Shreyas Gopal, Harpreet Brar.

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