Yuzvendra Chahal, for the second straight match, is missing from action for Punjab Kings. The star leg-spinner had missed the previous match too. Ahead of the match against Mumbai Indians in Jaipur on Monday, Chahal could be seen talking to Hardik Pandya. He was showing his hand and indicating that his finger injury hasn’t yet healed. It is for this reason he is missing the match. A win on Monday for either of the two teams will seal their finish in the top-2, moving past Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, with the latter yet to play their final league game of the season against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
MI entered this game having lost only four of their last five games, including the clinical 59-run win over Delhi Capitals in their last outing, which sealed their play-offs qualification. Skipper Hardik Pandya said it was a good toss to lose as he was unsure what to choose.
“Looks a very good track, let’s see. It is a good toss to lose. I was not too sure what I wanted to do. We don’t mind either batting or bowling. [See other teams] A lot of results had to go our way and it has. A lot of excitement. We were not in this position five days back, today we are. Last 8-9 games have all been knockouts for us,” said Pandya at the toss.
Punjab Kings on the other hand could have gone top of the table, which would have seen some relieved pressure on the side, but ended losing by six-wickets against DC. Iyer talked about their performance in the last game and announced two changes in the lineup with Kyle Jamieson and Vyshak Vijay Kumar coming into the team.
“I let the action talk more than words. I would just give them some sort of motivation and it is their job to go and execute. Jamieson and Vyshak come in. No you can’t just take it as just another day, you have to keep updating your mind and game, you have to put your best foot forward,” said Iyer.
Squad:
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Kyle Jamieson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh
Impact Subs: Prabhsimaran Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan, Xavier Bartlett, Praveen Dubey
Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Impact Subs: Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch, Karn Sharma, Raj Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju.