Kings XI Punjab visit the Wankhede Stadium to take on leaders Mumbai Indians on Thursday evening in their penultimate group stage match of 2017 Indian Premier League.
With 12 points from 12 games, Glenn Maxwell's men are sitting at the fifth spot and they have to win their next two matches if they are to stand a chance of leapfrogging fourth-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have 15 points from 13 games this season.
Having lost to the Indians by eight wickets the last time they met at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, the Kings XI have an uphill task when they gear up for the Wankhede test tonight.
Kings XI though will be high on confidence as they head into today's match on the back of a 14-run win over second-placed Kolkata Knight Riders in their last game on Tuesday. In the must-win game, skipper Maxwell smashed a quickfire 44, which helped the team post 167.
Maxwell will look to once again lead from the front in the absence of Hashim Amla, who scored a ton against Mumbai in Indore as the South African will be unavailable due to international duty. Martin Guptill is due for a big innings and the big man can deliver in crunch situations along with in-form Shaun Marsh.
Kings XI bowling unit, which has found form with Sandeep Sharma and Axar Patel contributing consistently, will eye revenge against Mumbai batsmen, who gunned down a 199-run target in just 15.2 overs in Indore.
On the other hand, Mumbai will look to sign off from Wankhede with a win and a positive result today will mean they will play their Qualifier at home, where they have won five game out of six this season.
Team News
MI
Possible XI: Rohit (c), Simmons, Parthiv (wk), Rana, Hardik, Pollard, Karn, Harbhajan, McCleneghan, Bumrah, Malinga
KXIP
Possible XI: Maxwell (c), Guptill, Vohra, Marsh, Saha (wk), Axar, Swapnil, Tewatia, Henry, Mohit, Sandeep
