Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium, Pune
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Average score at venue (1st inns): 173
Win percentage while batting first: 50%
Pitch conditions:
- Getting runs will be a tricky business here on Wednesday night at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune as the last few matches have witnessed teams making around 150-160 runs per innings, which are the at-par totals in this format.
- Irrespective of batting first or second, teams will have to be disciplined with the bat and ensure that they do not take unwanted risks.
- The fast bowlers have a wicket-share percentage of 74.42% here whereas the spin bowlers have got the remaining 25.58% of the wickets.
Weather prediction:
It will be a typically hot and humid day in Balewadi in Pune where this stadium is located, with the temperatures hitting a high of 39ºC in the afternoon, but the mercury will drop down sharply to 30ºC late in the evening when Mumbai will be facing Punjab in a must-win clash. The humidity levels will range between 30-35% on Wednesday.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD (overall):
Matches played: 27
Mumbai won: 14
Punjab won: 13
No result: -
Top 3 players from Mumbai: Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma
Top 3 players from Punjab: Liam Livingstone, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Mumbai: Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, R Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
Top 5 players from Punjab: Liam Livingstone, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Jitesh Sharma
Q & A:
Fantasy tips and tricks: Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
Runs will be the currency in this contest — both Mumbai and Punjab have not been able to make a strong mark with their performances so far in the tournament and they will be under pressure to perform in all departments given the kind of cricket they have played. While Punjab still have 2 wins to show from 4 matches, the tournament’s most successful team in the history, Mumbai, have shockingly lost all 4 matches so far and are at the bottom of the points table. Thus, in a must-win contest, Mumbai and Punjab will look for big scores and not the average ones in the range of 150-160. Adding more to the batting strength and carrying 3-4 seam bowling options who can also take wickets will be the right approach here for fantasy cricket playing XI.
Fantasy tips: From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
Neither Mumbai nor Punjab can be described as a side which is ‘stronger’ and should have more players featuring in the fantasy cricket playing XI. Both the teams have in a way underperformed so far in this Indian T20 Cricket League and there is a lot left to be desired from them. Their respective captains, Mayank Agarwal and R Sharma have struggled for runs and apart from Mumbai’s Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav and Punjab’s Liam Livingstone, there is no batsman from either side who is walking into this contest on the back of big runs. For Mumbai, Tilak Varma has done well as has Shikhar Dhawan for Punjab, but there is a lot to be done for these batsmen as well. A right mix of players from both the teams will be a good approach for making fantasy cricket playing XI here.
MORE INFORMATION: For the five-time title winners Mumbai, this is a desperate situation and their vast legion of fans would be hoping that the alarm bells have had their effect. For any team to start with 4 consecutive defeats is certainly not an ideal start — a lot of teams may not even bounce back from such a scenario — but Mumbai have been in such stages before and if there is one team which knows its way around these lanes, it is them. For Punjab, a lot of this is looking like it always has — tons of promise but still not enough in them to go the distance. Mayank Agarwal & Co would want consistency after all.
PLAYERS’ FORM: As mentioned above, there is no batsman apart from Mumbai’s Ishan Kishan who will enter this contest having made a mark with the bat. The young wicketkeeper-batsman has been the rock for Mumbai in their batting line-up, and the current form of Suryakumar Yadav is something that the five-time winners should make most of. For Punjab, they need big runs from the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan at the top before the brilliance of Liam Livingstone takes over. The lower-order for Punjab also needs to fire, with Shahrukh Khan’s bat going quiet after a few runs in the first match. With the ball, Mumbai will expect magic from Jasprit Bumrah whereas Punjab will look up to Kagiso Rabada for inspiration.
Changes in squad (if any): NO
LIKELY XIs:
MUMBAI: Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis, Kieron Pollard, Ramandeep Singh, Murugan Ashwin, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat, Jasprit Bumrah.
PUNJAB: Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Odean Smith, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora.
FANTASY XI: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone (c), Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Jitesh Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah, Basil Thampi, Rahul Chahar, Murugan Ashwin.
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Mumbai desperate for maiden win against wobbly Punjab
R Sharma’s Mumbai will be under tremendous pressure when they take field on Wednesday evening at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune in the Match No 23 of the ongoing Indian T20 Cricket League 2022.
In the last 14 years of the world’s biggest T20 cricket tournament, Mumbai have won the title as many as 5 times, bouncing back from poor starts to clinch the series.
But never have they lost 4 matches on the trot right at the start, and never have they had to face such an intense competition that the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 is turning out to be.
The first-timers such as Gujarat and Lucknow have not only played impressive cricket, but they have shown to be more professional, clinical and successful in their decisions and execution than some of the other teams who have been in the tournament.
Mumbai have simply played poor, uninspired cricket largely in this season so far to be thrown at the end of the pool, as they are placed at the penultimate spot — one above the defending champions Chennai — for they have also lost all 4 matches so far.
The two teams who share 9 title wins between them, it surely has been a horror start but not the one they cannot recover from.
Mumbai needs runs and inspiration not only from their captain R Sharma, but also from their experienced all-rounder Kieron Pollard, who has failed to make his presence felt so far in the competition. The young Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma have done well so far, and the current red-hot form of Suryakumar Yadav is the shot in the arm that Mumbai needed.
With the ball, Mumbai will have to be both confident and imaginative, as so far whatever they have planned and executed has not worked well. The same applies to the Mayank Agarwal-led Punjab, who have the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Rahul Chahar doing well for them but still they do not have made the mark that they can.
Mumbai have all the power in their ranks and in the coaching staff to bounce back from the string of defeats, and they will look to make a start on Wednesday night in the contest against a wobbly Punjab side.
Apart from Mayank Agarwal, the form of Shikhar Dhawan will also be a concern for Punjab since the senior batsman has got starts in almost every game but has not crossed the 50-run mark yet. Liam Livingstone has peaked in his abilities as an all-rounder, and Punjab will hope that his form lasts as long as possible.
With the ball, while Kagiso Rabada has been impressive, Arshdeep Singh has not yet clicked the way he or his team would have liked. The same can be said for the likes of Shahrukh Khan and Odeon Smith, who have been ordinary after dazzling in the first game of the tournament.
