Kings XI's chances to stay alive fading

Friday, May 13, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Mumbai Indians tamed the most threatening batting line-up and overcame a top-order stutter of their own on Wednesday in Bangalore to rise into the top half of the points table. After that uphill task against Royal Challengers Bangalore, they now face the bottom-ranked team, Kings XI Punjab, and another win, with a big margin, could take them into the top two.

After a rickety first few matches, Mumbai seem to have found their groove and have begun tightening their nuts and bolts. They have won matches when Rohit Sharma has not fired, their middle order won them their last match, their fast bowlers have done the early damage, and their spinners have been relatively economical.

The problems lie with Kings XI Punjab, who barely have any breathing space left. A loss on Friday will have them depending on slim mathematical possibilities, at best. In another season as also-rans, they rose a little too late in their last match, also against Royal Challengers, and lost by one run. While their Indian contingent has impressed, their overseas players have let them down. David Miller averages 16.37 after 10 innings, Shaun Marsh has flown back home, and there are now worries over Glenn Maxwell's fitness. This negates most of the work Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma and M Vijay have done. Kings XI might well need a serious overhaul if they are to upset Mumbai and keep themselves alive.

Mumbai Indians WLWWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Kings XI Punjab LWLWL

As Mumbai Indians' batting line-up does some fine tuning, Parthiv Patel's form might worry them a little bit. He has made 1, 0, 21 and 1 in his last four innings. If Parthiv can add to his solitary half-century this season, it will add another sharp arrow to Mumbai's quiver.

Hashim Amla has played only two matches so far, achieving a strike rate of only 88. Kings XI would be delighted if he could score freely at the start, take some pressure off M Vijay, and live up to a career T20 strike rate of 125.47.

Glenn Maxwell is recovering from an intercostal injury and the Kings XI camp will take a call on his availability only on Friday.

Kings XI Punjab (probable): 1 M Vijay (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 David Miller, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Glenn Maxwell/Farhaan Behardien, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Mohit Sharma, 9 Anureet Singh, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 KC Cariappa

Mumbai may not find a reason to change their winning XI. Nitish Rana replaced Hardik Pandya in their last match and they may want to give him another chance to showcase his skills.

Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Both matches played in Visakhapatnam so far have seen bowlers revel - though a different type of bowler in each case. It was Sunrisers' quicks who dismissed Mumbai for 92, and two days later legspinner Adam Zampa took 6 for 19. It has rained moderately since Thursday afternoon but there is no rain forecast for Friday.