IPL 2018, KXIP vs MI Match Preview: Can Mumbai Indians survive the Gayle storm?

After week-gap, Kings XI Punjab to make its return to the competition when they face defending champions Mumbai Indians at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.

On one hand, Kings XI Punjab are at the fourth position in the Points Table with five wins in seven matches, on the other hand, Mumbai Indians are at the floor of the table with just two win so far.

Mumbai Indians are on the verge of becoming the first team to fall out of the race of the Play-offs. In the last match played with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians could even chase a total of 167 runs.

Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab faced defeats at the hands of SunRisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring game where the whole team was bowled out for just 119 runs.

KXIP’s Chris Gayle is one of the key batsman in the squad and has contributed almost 40 per cent of the runs scored by the team’s batsmen. Another important batsmen in the line-up is KL Rahul who has scored runs on every occasion he stepped out in the middle.

However, Mumbai Indians is also not short of some big-hitters and run scorers. MI has Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav in the squad who can turn the tables at any course of time.

Talking about the bowling side, Mumbai Indians has Jasprit Bumrah, whose four overs are very crucial for the match.

Match Predictions – On Papers, both Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab has faced each other 20 times, and both the team are even with 10-10 wins each.

However, Kings XI Punjab has won three out of four matches played at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.

In the five IPL matches played at the venue, team chasing the total has won in all matches.

In one of the T20 international played against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma smashed his fastest century when he scored 118 runs in just 43 balls.

However, with Chris Gayle on the side, it will not be easy for Mumbai Indians to stop ‘The Run Machine’.