Mumbai Indians host Kings XI Punjab in Match 51 of the 2017 Indian Premier League [IPL] in what is a crucial game as far as the race for the playoffs go.
While Mumbai have already qualified, this is a must-win match for Punjab if they have to keep their hopes of finishing in the top four at the end of the league stage alive.
If the visitors lose this game, then the four playoff teams will already be decided with five matches still to play.
For Mumbai, a win here will guarantee them a top-two finish, which will provide them with a cushion of getting two shots at reaching the final.
Ahead of the match, we have the latest team news, start time and date, as well as how you can watch all the action from the UAE.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: May 11, 2017 (Thursday)
Time: 18:30 GST, 20:00 local time (IST), 14:30 GMT
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Sony Six, Sony Six HD (English), Sony Max, Sony Max HD 3 (Hindi), UK – Sky Sports
Online streaming: hotstar.com, Hotstar app (in India only)
LIVE: Sport360.com
TEAM NEWS, SQUADS, PREDICTED XIs
Best job in the world; get to watch @ImRo45 in the nets! @mipaltan preparing for @lionsdenkxip #IPL2017 #wankhede pic.twitter.com/tBAfH3uhFd
MI SQUAD: Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Hardik Pandya, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, R Vinay Kumar, Mitchell McClenaghan, J Suchith, Siddhesh Lad, Jos Buttler, Nitish Rana, Tim Southee, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Punia, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Johnson, K Gowtham, Karn Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, Asela Gunaratne, Kulwant Khejroliya.
Mumbai haven’t tinkered much with their playing XI this season and they are likely to go with the same formula once again.
If Krunal Pandya is fit, he could come into the team in place of Karn Sharma.
PREDICTED MI XI: Patel (wk), Simmons, Rana, Rohit (c), Pollard, Hardik, Karn, Harbhajan, McClenaghan, Bumrah, Malinga.
KXIP SQUAD: David Miller, Manan Vohra, Axar Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, KC Cariappa, Armaan Jaffer, Pardeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Hashim Amla, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Darren Sammy, T Natarajan, Varun Aaron, Rahul Tewatia, Rinku Singh, Ishant Sharma.
With Hashim Amla unavailable, Kings XI badly need Martin Guptill to come good at the top of the order. The New Zealand opener has one fifty from five innings this season and the Punjab faithful will be expecting more from him.
Punjab used three spinners in the last match, but with the Wankhede Stadium known to assist batting, we could see them going back to playing four pacers.
PREDICTED KXIP XI: Guptill, Vohra, Marsh, Saha (wk), Maxwell (c), Axar, Tewatia, Henry, Mohit, Sandeep, Natarajan.
Wonderful victory last night. With two of the star performers for @lionsdenkxip. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/0oTyu8jvVM
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
MI: L W W W L
KXIP: W L W W L
MATCH PREDICTION
Mumbai have lost just one match at home in the entire season so far. Hence, they are huge favourites to win this game.
