Mumbai Indians stands ahead in the rivalry contest with 14 wins in 25 meetings which includes four victories in their last five encounters.
Reigning champions Mumbai Indians (MI) would look to enhace their chances of sealing a playoff berth with a win when they play a deflated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the 36th game of the 13th Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Sunday.
Despite being in red hot form, the Rohit Sharma-led MI wouldn't take their opponents lightly on Sunday, as KXIP is motivated by the return of hard-hitting Chris Gayle. While MI are the current joint toppers with 12 points, KXIP languish at the bottom of the eight-team standings and another defeat will make their task to qualify very difficult.
As both the sides clash later tonight, let's take a look at some of the key stats:
Head-to-head tie: Mumbai Indians stands ahead in the rivalry contest with 14 wins in 25 meetings which includes four victories in their last five encounters, the last one being a win in Abu Dhabi earlier this month by 48 runs.
At the venue: In four IPL matches at the venue, three of which were in 2014, Mumbai Indians have failed to win none in Dubai. Kings XI too do not have a very good record to show. They have won just one out of their four matches at the venue with all their three defeats coming this season.
Crucial stats:
- Rohit Sharma could look to use Rahul Chahar early in the game given that Mayank averages 25.7 while being dismissed seven times by the variety in the last two IPL season while Rahul has a strike rate of 110.2 against leggies with three dismissals in the same phase.
- Chahar and Krunal Pandya should however be kept away from Chris Gayle who has a strike rate of 154 against left-arm spinners and 206 against leggies since 2018.
- Bumrah will most certainly be used against Glenn Maxwell who he has dismissed six times in T20 cricket with the Aussie managing 67 runs in 57 balls.
- Arshdeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi can be deployed to get rid of MI's in-form batsman Suryakumar Yadav who averages 21.5 against left-arm medium pace (four dismissals) and 21.5 against leggies (eight dismissals) in the last three seasons.
