Defending champions Mumbai Indians will be aiming to sort out their opening woes in both departments of the game when they take on a rejuvenated Kings XI Punjab in a must-win Indian Premier League encounter in Indore on Friday.

The three-time champions are staring at an inglorious exit having brought up the rear so far, with only two wins in their kitty from eight games. MI will be aware that they need to win each of their remaining six matches to sneak into the top four.

On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab, under Ravichandran Ashwin’s leadership, have won five out of their seven games, slowly but surely inching towards the Play-Offs.

A week off would have certainly helped the likes of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul recharge their batteries and they will be aiming to come out all guns blazing at their adopted home.

But KXIP will have to guard against rustiness and also acclimatise to their adopted home of Indore.

Collective performance by KXIP

Kings XI Punjab’s season has been about collective performance. They don’t have the Orange Cap or Purple Cap holders in their ranks but everyone has chipped in with impactful performances as and when required.

‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle (252 runs) came into the tournament with a bruised ego and battered the bowlers into submission with two half centuries and a hundred. Rahul (268 runs) also showed why he is rated so highly with the fastest ever 50 in IPL.

Afghanistan’s rookie mystery spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman, with an economy rate of 6.51 and seven wickets, has been nurtured well by skipper Ashwin, who has marshalled his resources well.

The pace duo of Ankit Rajpoot (7 wickets at 6.27) and Andrew Tye (9 wickets at 7.78) have also done the job for the Preity Zinta co-owned outfit.

Poor starts

For Mumbai, the primary reason for six defeats in eight matches has been poor start by openers along with new ball bowlers leaking too many runs in Powerplay overs.

While Suryakumar Yadav, with 283 runs from eight games, has performed decently after being promoted up the order, Caribbean left-hander Evin Lewis (194 in 7 games) has not been able to replicate his form in international matches.

Skipper Rohit Sharma (196 in 8 matches) has shuffled his own batting position but his inconsistency has also hurt Mumbai Indians big time.

The only silver lining for the Mumbai Indians this season has been the emergence of young leg-spinner Mayank Markande (11 wickets). The teenager has shown admirable temperament against the biggest names.

Head to head:

Overall: Matches – 20, Kings XI Punjab won – 10, Mumbai Indians won – 10

Stats and trivia

5 – All IPL matches played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore so far have been won by the team chasing.

8 – Number of golden ducks recorded by Mumbai Indians this season – the most by any side.

3 – Number of matches out of four that Kings XI Punjab have won playing at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.

118 – Rohit Sharma’s score (off 43 balls) the last time he played a T20 match in Indore, against Sri Lanka.

40 – Percentage of runs Chris Gayle has contributed to KXIP in the four matches he has played.

6.51 – Mujeeb ur Rahman’s economy rate this season. The rest of KXIP’s spinners have gone for 8.34 runs per over. In the Powerplay, Mujeeb’s economy rate is even better at 5.85.

Quotes

“I still believe when you look at our squad, we have key players who can win us six games in a row. We have done it in the past [in 2015] and I believe we can do it again.”

— Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond

“I highly anticipate that Indore will get behind this team.”

— Kings XI Punjab head coach Brad Hodge

Squads

Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, KL Rahul (wk), Karun Nair, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Barinder Sran, David Miller, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Axar Patel, Akshdeep Nath, Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh, Manzoor Dar Pandav, Pardeep Sahu, Ben Dwarshuis, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Dagar.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Mayank Markande, Mitchell McLenaghan, Mustafizur Rahaman, Jasprit Bumrah, Akila Dananjaya, Ben Cutting, JP Duminy, Rahul Chahar, Sharad Lumba, Adam Milne, Siddhesh Lad, Md Nidheesh, Mohsin Khan, Anukul Roy, Pradeep Sangwan, Tajinder Singh, Aditya Tare (wk), Saurabh Tiwary.

With inputs from PTI and IPLT20.com