Punjab Kings to test Mumbai Indians' class in crucial IPL game

Fivetime champions Mumbai Indians class and pedigree will once again be tested when they take on an unpredictable Punjab Kings in a crucial Indian Premier League match here on WednesdayA win will give MI the muchneeded push on the points table while a loss will see them slip further and chart a familiar course like the previous edition MI had finished 10th and last in the previous editionThe Mumbai team is currently placed seventh with eight points from eight matches and things are not looking great for Rohit Sharmas sideAlso Read Fiery Kohli fined again after IPL postmatch rowThe win against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on April 30 though would have instilled a fair bit of confidence in the MI team after it chased down a massive 212 with three balls to spare to earn two valuable pointsThe win was crafted by Singaporeborn Australian cricketer Tim David who smashed three sixes on the trot in the final over during his 14ball unbeaten 45 to snatch victory from the jaws of defeatWhile there were vital contributions from Indias T20 specialist batter Suryakumar Yadav 55 tall Australian allrounder Cameron Green 44 Ishan Kishan 28 and Tilak Varma 29 not out none could match the ferocity of Davids strokesThe 27yearold middleorder batter smashed five sixes and two boundaries at a strike rate in excess of 300 as Mumbai Indians won on home turfA similar commitment would be required against Punjab Kings who are known to play aggressive cricket though their biggest drawback is an unreliable top orderBarring Shikhar Dhawan and to an extent his opening partner Prabhsimran Singh very few PBKS batters have contributed enough to their overall totals though all that changed in their previous game against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk on April 30Set a stiff 200run target by MS Dhonis side the entire top and middleorder came to the party to win a lastball thriller by four wickets With Prabhsimran and Dhawan laying a good foundation in powerplay England allrounder Liam Livingstone Sam Curran and wicketkeeperbatter Jitesh Sharma all chipped in to make it a memorable chaseThe team though will likely have to face the fiery pace of Mumbai Indians Jofra Archer who was back in the game against Rajasthan Royals bowling his quota of overs and taking a wicket as wellMI skipper Rohits form though is the biggest concern for the fivetime IPL champions and much would depend on the India captain on Wednesday to shore up his side after contributing just three runs in the match against the RoyalsThe Teams FromPunjab Kings Shikhar Dhawan c Arshdeep Singh Baltej Singh Rahul Chahar Sam Curran Rishi Dhawan Nathan Ellis Gurnoor Brar Harpreet Brar Harpreet Singh Vidwath Kaverappa Liam Livingstone Mohit Rathee Prabhsimran Singh Kagiso Rabada Bhanuka Rajapaksa M Shahrukh Khan Jitesh Sharma Shivam Singh Matthew Short Sikandar Raza Atharva TaideMumbai Indians Rohit Sharma c Jofra Archer Arshad Khan Jason BehrendorffDewald Brevis Piyush Chawla Tim David Raghav Goyal Cameron Green Ishan KishanDuan Jansen Chris Jordan Kumar Kartikeya Akash Madhwal Riley Meredith Shams Mulani Ramandeep Singh Sandeep Warrier Hrithik Shokeen Tristan Stubbs Arjun Tendulkar Tilak Varma Vishnu Vinod Nehal Wadhera Suryakumar YadavMatch Starts at 730pmThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever