Preview: Mumbai Indians seek to maintain momentum against Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2016

Having regrouped quickly after suffering an 85-run drubbing, Mumbai Indians will look to continue their winning ways when they lock horns with laggards Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League. After being crushed by Sunrisers Hyderabad, defending champions Mumbai Indians got their act together to get the better of Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets last night.

MI, led by India’s star batsman Rohit Sharma, are placed fourth in the points table with six victories and five defeats from 11 appearances. They have so far earned 12 points, and would seek to maintain the momentum going into their next game at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, their current home base.

Struggling at the bottom of the eight-team table, Kings XI Punjab are already out of reckoning for a play-offs berth, having lost seven of their 10 matches.

The visitors are not likely to find the going easy against the formidable Mumbai outfit.

Rohit has led the team from the front and is Mumbai’s top-scorer overall. On most occasions, he has delivered when his team has needed.

Knocked out for a paltry 92 by Sunrisers Hyderabad, MI’s batsmen as well as the bowlers seemed determined to erase that humiliation against RCB.

After MI’s bowlers allowed the batting-heavy RCB to score only 151 in front of their home crowd at the comparatively smaller Chinnaswamy Stadium, their batsmen chased down the target with plenty of wickets and balls to spare.

While Rohit has been their guiding light with the bat, Ajinkya Rahane has been a calming influence on the team. The presence of the big-hitting Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler has also added depth to MI’s batting line-up.

On and off, wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel has done his bit in front of the stumps.

Mitchell McClenaghan and Tim Southee were responsible for the early blows in their last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.