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A LOT AT STAKE
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma (R) celebrates the dismissal of Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Shane Watson with wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel (L), during the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match.

Vishakapatnam - Mumbai eye IPL play-off spot as they take on struggling Punjab

By PTI

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Published: Thu 12 May 2016, 7:13 PM

Last updated: Thu 12 May 2016, 11:18 PM

Having regrouped quickly after suffering an 85-run drubbing, Mumbai Indians will look to continue their winning ways, with one eye on the play-off spot, when they lock horns with laggards Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League on Friday.
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 on Wednesday night.
Mumbai, led by India's star batsman Rohit Sharma, have 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 the reckoning for a play-off 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 Mumbai'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.
Rohit has been their guiding light with the bat. 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. Spinner Harbhajan Singh is an experienced campaigner, and Rohit also has options in rookie medium pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, besides Pollard.
As far as Kings XI Punjab are concerned, the script has so far remained the same. They are coming off a heartbreaking one-run loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Handed captaincy midway into the league, India's Murali Vijay has been trying his best to show the way, but without much support from the rest of the crew.
Vijay top-scored with an accomplished 57-ball 89, while Marcus Stoinis blazed away towards the end, but the others failed to show up as KXIP lost again.
The form of David Miller and Glenn Maxwell has been a cause for concern. The Australian missed out on the last match, with the team management claiming that he was being rested.
As far as bowling is concerned, the likes of Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Axar Patel and Stoinis will need to pull their socks up.

Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel will hope to give Mumbai Indians a decent start against Punjab today. — AFP
Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel will hope to give Mumbai Indians a decent start against Punjab today. — AFP

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