IPL 2022: MI vs PBKS Preview – Mumbai search for their opening victory

The Mumbai Indians will be facing off against Punjab Kings in Match 23 of IPL 2022 at the Maharashtra Association Cricket Stadium in Pune on April 13. Both teams will be heading into this contest having lost their respective encounters. While PBKS were outclassed by the Gujarat Titans by six wickets in a last-ball thriller, MI suffered a humiliating seven-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Punjab would be eager to get back to winning ways having won two and lost as many matches. They would be hoping their explosive batters to fire all cylinders against Mumbai’s bowling attack. At the same time, they would also be hoping for a much more disciplined effort from their bowlers, especially at the death.

Mumbai on the other hand would be pondering over what went wrong for them. Barring their last game against RCB, the five-time champions lost the three games prior to that by failing to sustain momentum when things seemed to be going their way at one point in time. As the Mumbai Indians look forward to adding the first points to their tally this season, they would be banking on their batters and bowlers to click as a unit.

Team news

Mumbai

The biggest concern for the Mumbai Indians’ is their underperforming middle-order which revolves around Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard. The other batters would be hoping to make some vital contributions when they face Punjab as MI are in a dire need of a win. They are likely to include Fabian Allen, a left-arm spinner, who can be useful against Punjab’s right-handed batting unit.

Punjab

Bhanuka Rajapaksa was brilliant in the first few games but Jonny Bairstow is likely to continue in his place. Other than that, Punjab may want to bring in Sandeep Sharma in place of Vaibhav Arora. Sharma has an excellent record against most of the Mumbai batters.

Predicted Playing XI of Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings