After witnessing in the high-scoring thrillers, Punjab and Mumbai meet in the Thursday encounter of Indian T20 League 2020.
Team Preview
The defending champions are back in Abu Dhabi to face Punjab in the important encounter of Indian T20 League. Both sides have played quality cricket but ended up as losing sides twice in their first three games. After losing the Super-over game to Delhi, Punjab secured 97-runs victory agaisnt Bangalore but they outplayed by Rajasthan in a high-scoring game. After Mayank Agarwal’s outstanding ton, Punjab posted 223 and they were on driver’s seat till the 17th over, before the Tewatia storm spoiled the party. Punjab lost two games in crunch situations and their errors in death-overs made things worse. Once it was Stoinis and later, it was Rahul Tewatia who messed up Punjab’s winning chances.
Meanwhile, Mumbai are also coming off of a super-over defeat against Bangalore. Ishan Kishan and Pollard pulled off a great chase, adding 119 runs off 51 balls. It was the last ball boundary which helped Mumbai to take the game into super over. Bumrah tried to defend 8 runs in Super over but Bangalore took the final laugh. Mumbai has all the points ticked as Ishan Kishan scored 99 in his first game of the season and Pollard also joined the party. De Cock is not delivering much in top-order and if it continues, Rohit can try Lynn in next few matches. It would be a cracking game of T20 as both sides are in terrific form.
Pitch Report
Sheikh Zayed Stadium is offering a good balance between bat and ball. Spinners pick the control from the sluggish behaviour of the pitch. Chasing might be tricky if the score is above 160. The way Hyderabad defended the total agaisnt Delhi, both sides would opt to bat first.
Possible XI
Punjab
Mayank Agarwal, Lokesh Rahul (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, James Neesham, Sarfaraz Khan, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell, Ravi Bishnoi
Mumbai
Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Key Players
Punjab
KL Rahul
M: 3, Runs: 222, Avg: 111
Mayank Agarwal
M: 3, Runs: 221, Avg: 73.67
Mumbai
Rohit Sharma
M: 3, Runs: 100, Avg: 138.89
Kieron Pollard
M: 3, Runs: 91, SR: 202.22
