Mumbai Indians teetering on the edge of elimination
Mumbai Indians will be out of the tournament if they lose to Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday, but if they win they will move to fourth place
Big Picture
In the news
Previous meeting
Likely XIs
Strategy punt
- Rohit averages 6.6 and strikes at 88 in the seven matches Mumbai have lost this season. In the five they have won, he has averaged 73 and struck at 155. Basically, Kings XI need to take him out early. And to do that they might try Axar Patel. The head-to-head reads: 18 runs, 25 balls, one wicket.
- Gayle has scored 217 runs in 151 balls at an average of 72 against all the bowlers Mumbai currently have on their roster. But there is hope: Ben Cutting has dismissed him twice in 17 balls, and Hardik Pandya once in 15 balls. Jasprit Bumrah has also managed to keep him quiet (26 runs in 27 balls). Expect those three to take a decent amount of workload while the Universe Boss is at the crease.
Stats that matter
- Kings XI began their campaign with five wins in seven matches. Then they went into a seven-day break. Upon returning to action, they lost four out of five games and tumbled from first to fifth place.
- Kings XI have almost entirely been riding on individual performances. Their two best bowlers Andrew Tye (20 wickets in 12 innings, economy rate 8.02) and Mujeeb (14 wickets in 11 innings, economy rate 6.99) have been outstanding. The others have contributed 29 wickets in 12 innings at an economy rate of 9.3.
- Gayle has been a monster against legspin this season. He has smashed 79 runs off only 33 balls without ever losing his wicket.
- Evin Lewis needs 18 runs to get to 3000 in T20s. But he seems to be struggling against fast bowling this IPL season (strike-rate 127, average 21). So Kings XI might look to use Ankit Rajpoot to unsettle the opener. Moreover, Rajpoot concedes only 7.3 an over in the Powerplay and has taken five of his eight wickets in this period.
Fantasy pick
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo