Having just 1 win in their last 5 matches, the “Punjab Kings” are currently going through tough times, and they will soon need to turn the situation around. This season, playing for the “Punjab Kings” has been quite inconsistent, and it has been further exacerbated by the absence of Shikhar Dhawan, who will miss a week due to a shoulder injury. This puts extra pressure on players like Jonny Bairstow and Prabhsimran Singh, who are key players in the top order. The team will also heavily rely on domestic talents including Jitesh Sharma, Arthava Taide, and Shashanka Singh to deliver. The latter has made a couple of impressive strikes and will look to play a attacking role alongside Ashutosh Sharma. In the bowling department, Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh have compensated for the strong attack with the new ball, taking 9 wickets each. Harshal Patel and Sam Curran have taken 15 wickets between them, but they often come at a cost. Additionally, the “Punjab Kings” lack a quality spinner. Without Shikhar Dhawan available at the top, another batsman will have to step up, and currently, it seems there’s no one to do it. We believe there’s likely to be a change in selection or batting order in this competition (perhaps Sam Curran will offer this order).
After winning back-to-back matches, the “Mumbai Indians” suffered a defeat to their main rival, the “Chennai Super Kings” on Sunday. This was the team’s fourth loss of the season. While the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan has been quite stable in the last three games, the middle-order batsmen often failed to capitalize on the good start, as was the case in the last match. The three previous partnerships for MI were 70, 101, and 80. This is a promising sign for the bowling unit and bodes well for this match. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma are quality players and are in good form. Considering these two are in the middle, followed by players like Tim David or Romario Shepherd, run chases shouldn’t be a problem for the Mumbai Indians in most matches. In fact, the only batsman who seems out of form and is burdening the team is Hardik Pandya. The bowlers have done a commendable job in IPL 2024. Jasprit Bumrah is the leading wicket-taker in the team with 10 wickets, and he is well-supported by Gerald Coetzee and Akash Madhwal. The issue with the latter two bowlers has been their high economy rate, which stands at 10.26 for Coetzee and 10.60 for Madhwal. What the team lacks is a steady spin bowler and a genuine fifth bowler who can stem the flow of runs and put pressure on the opposition. Hardik Pandya used to be able to do this job, but he has conceded 12 runs and has only taken three wickets so far.
