In the 17th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, Punjab Kings (PBKS) will be locking horns with Mumbai Indians (MI) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. A change of venue made no difference for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) as they crumbled to 120 all out against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Meanwhile, MI has won a couple of games this season as they have lost the same no. of games. The batting hasn’t really come to the party for PBKS as they are too much dependent on KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal.
The inclusion of Moises Henriques and Fabien Allen in the last game didn’t work either. On the other hand, their bowling attack has not managed to perform well as they haven’t really looked threatening enough. Punjab has suffered a similar start like 2020 and time is running out in the ongoing season as well. On the other hand, MI have batted first in four out of four games and seem to be setting themselves up really well.
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However, MI’s middle-order has been failing more often than not so far this season. The likes of Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, and Krunal Pandya have looked slightly out of sorts and have struggled on the slow Chepauk decks. However, their bowlers have been good overall. Apart from Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult have fared pretty well too.
#3 KL Rahul vs Trent Boult
The PBKS skipper, KL Rahul has been having a decent outing in the IPL 2021 as well, as he has amassed 161 runs in 4 innings but the team did not take advantage of it. In the first game of the season against RR, Rahul played a match-winning knock of 91 runs off just 50 balls.
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However, Rahul will be facing the likes of Trent Boult quite early in the innings and it will be an interesting battle. Lokesh Rahul’s record in T20 bowling by Trent Boult: 60 runs in 30 balls, once out, with 11 boundary shots. SR is amazing and Lokesh’s team needs this batting.
#2 Ishan Kishan vs Murugan Ashwin
Ishan Kishan is yet to bat at his best in this season so far and against PBKS, he will be facing the leg break of Murugan Ashwin in the middle over, who will try his best to keep up with this difficulty. The challenge for both is – Ashwin had the habit of bowling some miserly spells. Ishan Kishan’s record for the bowling of Murugan Ashwin in T20: 28 runs in 24 balls, not out even once, with 5 boundary shots.
#1 Rohit Sharma vs Mohammed Shami
There is no denying the fact that Rohit Sharma is one of the best limited-overs batsmen in the world, but he is yet o bat at his best on the ongoing season. However, in the last game against DC, he played a decent knock of 30-ball 44. He will be facing his Indian teammate, Mohammed Shami early on in the innings, and in the 4 matches against the pacer, Rohit has scored 138 runs in 135 balls but now the time has come for the team to play better than this. Rohit Sharma’s record of Mohammed Shami bowling in T20: 37 runs off 28 balls, once out, with 6 boundary shots.
