File photo of PBKS captain KL Rahul (in red) with MI bowler Trent Boult.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians are in troubled waters after the side lost three consecutive matches with all three being lop-sided affairs. The five-time champions will aim to change all that when they face fifth-placed Punjab Kings in match 42 of IPL 2021 in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (7:30 PM).
PBKS, on the other hand, tasted their first win in the UAE phase on Sunday when they defeated bottom-placed SRH to get themselves back in the play-off stage run.
As both sides meet in Abu Dhabi, let's take a look at their squads and stats.
Squads
Amid the negativities of the heavy defeats, the sole piece of good news for the side is the return of Hardik Pandya in the line-up but the all-rounder is still not asked to bowl in the last match after his recovery from a back injury earlier this year. Apart from that, the defending champions have no injury concerns, allowing them to chop and change the line-up, especially with the middle-order struggling. Not to forget, this was among the few sides who didn't have to make any changes in the squad during the COVID-19-forced break.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn, Mohsin Khan, Saurabh Tiwary, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neeshan, Yudhvir Charak, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar
Punjab Kings too head into the tie with no injury concerns and have a full-fledged squad at skipper KL Rahul's disposal. Before the resumption of IPL in the UAE, PBKS faced a setback as power-hitter Dawid Malan pulled out of the tournament, with the franchise replacing the English batsman with South Africa’s Aiden Markram.
IN: Nathan Ellis, Adil Rashid, Aiden Markram
OUT: Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Dawid Malan
Squad: KL Rahul (c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Dawid Malan, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar, Nathan Ellis
Head-to-Head Stats (MI vs PBKS)
Matches Played: 27
MI won: 14
PBKS won: 13
