Mumbai, April 15 (IANS) Having succumbed to three successive defeats following the victory in their season-opener, five-time champions Mumbai Indians enter their fifth match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 for a needle clash with their old bugbear, Punjab Kings, the only franchise that has a positive record against them.
MI are desperate for a win and will be going into Thursday’s clash at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, hoping to put their campaign back on track by capitalising on their stellar record at home.
Mumbai Indians had raised hope of a great season when they won their opening match for the first time in 13 years, beating the Kolkata Knight Riders at home. Their fortunes have gone into a tailspin after that match, suffering back-to-back defeats to Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and are currently second from bottom with two points from four matches.
Though it is too early to write them off, it is the right time for Mahela Jayawardene and his think tank to start getting concerned by the string of defeats and take measures to turn the tide. They have struggled with both the ball and the bat, conceding 200-plus runs in two of their four matches and being hammered for 150 in 11 overs by Rajasthan Royals in a rain-truncated match at Guwahati.
How deep their troubles are can be gauged from the fact that their talismanic pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah has failed to claim a wicket in four successive matches, though Boom has restricted the flow of runs and not conceded massive runs.
It is surprising how Bumrah, considered the best bowler in the World in this format, has gone off the boil a month or so after tormenting New Zealand with a four-wicket haul in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final in Ahmedabad. Among the other bowlers, Trent Boult has provided them with early breakthroughs, as has Shardul Thakur, but both have proved costly. Mitchell Santner is yet to get into the groove on joining the side late after completing his national-team commitments in New Zealand.
Going into Thursday’s clash, the Mumbai Indians are also sweating over the fitness of former captain Rohit Sharma, who retired hurt with a hamstring injury during their last match against RCB on Sunday. He has undergone scans, and the team is tight-lipped on whether he is available for the match against PBKS. There are chances he may be used as an Impact Substitute if he gets the go-ahead from the doctors.
His unavailability will create an opportunity for Quinton de Kock as the opening partner for his countryman Ryan Rickelton, but MI will have to rework their plans to fulfil the rules to maintain four foreign players in the playing XI. De Kock could only come in place of another foreign player, thus de-stabilising the balance in the middle-order or bowling unit.
MI will be hoping for some big knocks from India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma, though skipper Hardik Pandya has done reasonably well so far, both with the bat and ball.
Their opponents, the Punjab Kings, on the other hand, are going through a purple patch, perched at the second spot in the points table, the only team to be unbeaten in the league so far, with three wins and a No Result so far. They seem to have started from where they left off in the 2025 season, with the team gelling well under skipper Shreyas Iyer and head coach Ricky Ponting.
Openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have given them some good starts, while skipper Shreyas Iyer has been his usual steady self in the middle order. Australian all-rounder Cooper Connolly made a sensational debut for the team with a brilliant unbeaten 72 against the Gujarat Giants.
However, they have not been tested by strong bowling attacks so far, and it is to be seen how they perform under pressure. Skipper Iyer has performed consistently in the IPL in the last couple of seasons, but other batters in the middle-order have not been tested so far and may prove a stumbling block.
On the bowling front, Arshdeep Singh and Xavier Bartlett have given them good starts while Vijaykumar Vyshak has claimed a three-fer so far, though he had figures of 0-33 in two overs in their last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, too, has had an indifferent start to the season with only three wickets so far.
Though the overall effect has been satisfactory for PBKS, there is not much to separate the teams in the head-to-head record, as MI have won 17 and PBKS 16 matches in their 33 clashes so far.
PBKS have done well chasing so far, as all their wins have come while batting second. They are likely to continue to do that if they win the toss, unless they take the possibility of dew playing a major role on Thursday evening.
The two sides have a history of close matches and faced off in Qualifier 2 in the 2025 edition, with PBKS emerging victorious and going on to play the final, where they lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
So, their clash at the Wankhede on Thursday could be another humdinger, though the current poor form of the Mumbai Indians means PBKS will fancy their chances of maintaining their unbeaten run
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Danish Malewar, Robin Minz (wk), Ryan Rickelton (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Atharva Ankolekar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Mayank Rawat, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Ashwani Kumar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, AM Ghazanfar, Mayank Markande, Mohd Izhar, Raghu Sharma.
Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer (c), Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Harnoor Singh, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Vishnu Vinod (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Cooper Connolly, Marco Jansen, Musheer Khan, Mitchell Owen, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Ben Dwarshuis, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Vishal Nishad, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur.
–IANS
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