IPL 2021, Match 17: Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians (PBKS vs MI) – Match Preview

On Friday (23rd April) night, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians (MI) will face each other at MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk, Chennai) during the 17th match of the IPL 2021.

Both teams will play their fifth match of this IPL 2021. After their first four games of this IPL 2021, Punjab Kings have earned only 2 points while Mumbai Indians have collected 4 points.

IPL 2021, Match 17: Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians (PBKS vs MI) – Match Preview

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Though Punjab Kings (PBKS) won their first game of this IPL 2021 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 4 runs in the high-scoring thriller, they have then suffered three consecutive defeats against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Delhi Capitals (DC) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and that too weaker way.

Opener and captain KL Rahul is once again the key batsman for PBKS who is their most run-scorer in this IPL 2021 with 161 runs in four innings, including scoring 91 and 61 runs in their first and third games respectively. While Rahul was dismissed early in the other two matches of this season, PBKS only managed to score low totals on both occasions.

After scoring 14 and a duck, another opener Mayank Agarwal scored 69 and 22 runs respectively. Apart from 40 off 28 balls in their season opener, Chris Gayle has failed to score another 20+ runs in this season. Middle-order batsmen Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh Khan have impressed with their performances while Caribbean cricketer Nicholas Pooran is in serious threat to lose his spot after scoring three ducks and another 9 runs in the first four matches of this season.

The 22-year-old pacer Arshdeep Singh has impressed in the early period of this IPL 2021 as he has picked up 5 wickets in four matches. Meanwhile, Mohammed Shami has taken 4 wickets in four matches. Australian cricketer Jhye Richardson has collected 3 wickets in three matches while he is also expensive with the ball.

Full Squad

KL Rahul (C), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Dawid Malan, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Fabian Allen.

Mumbai Indians (MI)

The last two-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians (MI) haven’t managed to achieve strong starts in the IPL 2021. After Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat them in the last-ball thriller of this tournament opener, Mumbai Indians closely beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) before Delhi Capitals just recently took the revenge of their IPL 2020 final defeat.

Talking about Mumbai Indians’ batting, only captain Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav have shown some consistency. While Rohit has scored 138 runs in four games of this season, Suryakumar has scored 121 runs in four matches of this tournament. In this early period of the IPL 2021, Rohit’s scores are 19, 43, 32 and 44 runs respectively and Suryakumar’s scores are 31, 56, 10 and 24 runs respectively.

South African cricketer Quinton de Kock has played three matches in this tournament where he has scored 2, 40 and 2 runs respectively. Though Australian cricketer Chris Lynn has played only the first match of this IPL 2021, he scored 49 runs in that game despite struggling with the bat.

The major issue in the batting line-up is the struggling form of the middle-order batsmen at Chennai. The only impressive knock in their middle-order batting line-up in this season is Kieron Pollard’s 35 not out off 22 balls against SRH. Ishan Kishan is also struggling with the bat.

The young leg-spinner Rahul Chahar was the major reason for Mumbai Indians’ first two wins in this IPL 2021. Rahul has already picked up 8 wickets in this tournament. Meanwhile, New Zealand left-arm pacer Trent Boult has got 6 wickets in four matches while Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah has collected 4 wickets in four matches. Though Krunal Pandya has taken 3 wickets in four matches of this IPL 2021, he has maintained good control with the ball.

Full Squad

Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Amolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Singh, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar.