Punjab Kings seeks turnaround against Mumbai Indians

Punjab Kings will be desperate for a turnaround against Mumbai Indian when the two teams meet at the HPCA Stadium here on Thursday.

After leading the standings for nearly four weeks, PBKS slumped to fourth place on the back of four straight defeats. Another slip-up will leave it in a scrap for the final Playoffs spot.

Fifties from Shreyas Iyer and Priyansh Arya against Delhi Capitals were reminiscent of the batting flourish that was the backbone of Punjab Kings’ early success. But its bowling lapses continue to cost it.

PBKS leaked 73 runs off four overs at the death against the Capitals, and has the worst economy rate in this phase this season (11.66).

The silver lining, though, has been Arshdeep Singh delivering again up front. He has three wickets at an economy of 8.15 in the last three games after a horrid run which got him just four wickets in eight games before that.

“Arshdeep is a terrific cricketer. And these big cricketers rise at the right moment. I think now is the right time and our coach Ricky Ponting always speaks of peaking at the right time, at the back end of the tournament,” Punjab Kings’ assistant bowling coach Trevor Gonsalves said.

Odds would favour Punjab to get its act together against a Mumbai Indians side that is already out of the reckoning for the Playoffs.

Its listless run was already a mood dampener this season, and MI has been handed another cruel blow with stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav unavailable for the game.

The best chance MI has of getting out of its rut is to take on the misfiring Punjab bowlers. Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma have nailed their role in setting the pace this year, adding 380 runs in six innings at a run rate of 11.76.