Preview and head-to-head: Mumbai take on Punjab in first return fixture of IPL 2019

Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai team will take on Ravichandran Ashwin-led in the first return fixture of Indian Premier League 2019. The two teams met in Mohali earlier, when Punjab defeated Mumbai as they chased down 177 quite convincingly.

Both the teams are high on confidence as coming off wins against Hyderabad in their respective previous matches.

When we see their head-to-head clashes in IPL, they have played 23 matches and Mumbai have won 12 and Punjab won 11.

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At the Wankhede Stadium, they have played eight matches and both the teams have won equal wins.

Mumbai team is blessed with splendid batting firepower in the end overs from West Indian Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya and Punjab but have a problem at the top. The top order, comprising Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, is capable of hitting runs but they failed to leave an impact so far.

Mumbai don't even have anyone in the top-20 run-scorers' list this season, an indication of the depth in their batting, and have a superior fast bowling attack bolstered by the inclusion of West Indian pacer, Alzarri Joseph, who blew away Hyderabad with his record-breaking haul of 6/12 in their previous game.

The hosts have a formidable pace attack with Jasprit Bumrah and left-arm Jason Behrendorff also there, along with Joseph and Hardik, to utilise the bounce and carry on the Wankhede track.

Punjab, third on the table with eight points, have been top heavy in batting with KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal leading the way with 200-plus aggregates and the indomitable Gayle too not far behind.

In bowling, skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (7 wickets) has done well in five out of six games that the team has played and has got good support from the likes of Sam Curran, Mohammed Shami and Murugan Ashwin.

Watch the preview:

Teams:

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton de Kock(wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Alzarri Joseph, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Ankul Roy, Evin Lewis, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ben Cutting, Ishan Kishan (wk), Aditya Tare, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Jayant Yadav.

Punjab: Lokesh Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Karun Nair, Moises Henriques, Varun Chakravarthi, Harpreet Brar, Simran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi.