It’s the clash of the table toppers and the table enders. While Mumbai Indians are sitting pretty on top of the points table, Kings XI Punjab are languishing at the bottom. While everything seems to be clicking for the defending champions, KXIP have found themselves on the losing end despite not doing very badly. But that’s how the game works. Doing well in patches doesn’t win you games, something KXIP have done whereas the opposite of that has been done by MI.
MI have been ruthless in the last few games. When they batted first, they posted a big total and defended that easily. When they batted second, the bowlers didn’t allow the opposition to get too many. Then, the batsmen won by chasing when other teams have struggled batting second. The deep batting line-up, mighty all-rounders, and lethal bowlers have put MI firmly amongst the contenders for the title again.
Match: 36
Day: Sunday
Date: 18th October 2020
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, UAE
Time: 7:30 PM (IST)
Pitch and Conditions:
Dubai has been serving up some real slow tracks in recent matches, even slower than in Abu Dhabi. We hope they also leave a bit of grass on the surface so that the ball comes on better but that remains to be seen.
On the evidence of previous matches, we think a slow surface that will continue to get harder to bat on as the match progresses is likely. Out of the two teams, MI certainly seems to be better-equipped with whatever the surface throws at them. Par score at Dubai now seems to be around 160 and anything above 175 is going to be very hard to chase down.
TOSS:
The team that wins the toss is going to want to bat first. The dew seems to have disappeared as the weather is changing and so the chasing side has no major advantage. If anything, the ball tends to get a bit more difficult to hit as the pitch slows down. The team that bats first should be seen as having a big advantage.
Head to Head Stats:
Matches Played: 25, MI Won: 14, KXIP Won: 11, NR: 0
MI Expected Playing XI:
Quinton de Kock (WK), Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult
KXIP Expected Playing XI:
KL Rahul (C&WK), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh
MI vs KXIP Match Prediction:
We make our predictions after calculating each and every aspect of the match that is why we are the best tipper of IPL. MI is the team to beat in this contest, no matter what. While both the teams have two strong batting lineups, the form and consistency of MI are superior. Also, we think MI has a better bowling-attack than KXIP and that could be the difference between the two teams. Bet on MI to win. For more and assured free IPL betting tips keep visiting our website throughout the IPL 2020.