Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) find themselves in separate halves of the points table. Mumbai are second with 12 points from eight matches while Kings XI Punjab, despite their second win of IPL 2020 in their last outing, are yet to get off the bottom of the table. While Mumbai have most of their players firing on all cylinders, Kings XI have been heavily dependent of their top two of captain KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, who are also the top two scorers of IPL 2020 thus far. However, Orange Cap holder Rahul hasn't been able to turn his team's fortunes around and will need the support of his teammates, if Kings XI are to have any chance of even making the top four.
MUMBAI INDIANS
Rohit Sharma: Skipper Rohit has blown hot and cold this IPL so far but still has managed two fifties and two thirties from eight innings. At the top of the order, Rohit's partnership with Quinton de Kock has been crucial to Mumbai's successful run in the tournament. 251 runs at 31.37 and a strike rate of 130.05 are still good returns even though Rohit hasn't quite been at his best yet.
Quinton de Kock: The wicket-keeper batsman has been in red-hot form of late with two fifties in his last two innings. A blazing innings of 78 not out blew away the Kolkata Knight Riders while 53 against Delhi Capitals ensured Mumbai's dominance in the clash between the top two teams in the tournament. Kings XI will be wary of the Mumbai opening pair.
Jasprit Bumrah: The fast bowler has slowly grown into his role for Mumbai in this season of the IPL. He is their highest wicket-taker with 12 wickets from eight matches at a decent economy rate of 7.62 runs per over. Equally adept with the new ball as well as the death, Bumrah has retained his teeth as an out-and-out pacer capable of using both the slowness of the pitch with his variations and take the surface out of the equation with raw pace.
KINGS XI PUNJAB
KL Rahul: Rahul has piled on the runs in every match he has played and rightfully sits atop the run charts with 448 runs from eight games at a mind-boggling average of 74.66 with one century and four half centuries. Rahul and Mayank Agarwal have given Punjab good starts more often than not and have been the biggest positives for them in what has been a dour season so far.
Mayank Agarwal: Agarwal has been the ‘Robin' to Rahul's ‘Batman' with a tally of 382 runs from eight matches at 47.75 and an imposing strike rate of 161.18 with one century and two fifties. The two Karnataka players have got most of the runs for Punjab this season but their task has become all the more difficult with an out-of-form middle order. They will look to bat through the innings.
Mohammed Shami: Bowling has been a problem for Kings XI but one bowler who has been regularly among the wickets this season has been the seasoned pro Mohammed Shami. With 12 wickets from eight games at an economy rate of 8.73 runs per over, Shami has been the most successful bowler for Kings XI thus far in IPL 2020.