PBKS and MI will face each other in the second qualifier of the ongoing IPL season on 1st June at Ahmedabad
Match Preview:
The season for Punjab Kings started at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, and it will conclude there regardless of whether they make it to the championship game. Ricky Ponting and Shreyas Iyer will be hoping for two more evenings like the one on March 25, when the Kings upset the Gujarat Titans by 11 runs and amassed 243 for 5.
However, they face the Mumbai Indians, who are fierce, on a brutal night at home against RCB. With eight victories in their past ten games going into Qualifier 2, the five-time champions are unstoppable. When MI is on their game, they are a nightmare for the opposition and, as was seen in Mullanpur on Friday night, are a formidable force.
Mumbai Indians are famous, experienced, and have a long lineage. Then they have Jasprit Bumrah, who gives their attack a distinct aura and weight. With the exception of the four overs in which he gives the batters virtually little away, the opposition will only have to contend with 16 overs. In 11 games, he has given up just 276 runs at an economy rate of slightly over six.
People like Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine, as well as Bumrah, are encouraging data analysts to go back and review their number-crushing efforts. There is a growing belief that analytics has to look at the effects of partnerships rather than just individual measures. To what extent has the Bumrah factor led to other bowlers dismissing batters?
Although the Punjab Kings have been among the top two teams this season, they will be facing a formidable challenge.
Even Tilak Varma, who has been completely out of form this season, has begun to step up as the MI batting, led by Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, has begun to fire on cylinders. Under Bumrah’s leadership, the bowling is playing smoothly. Even their recently hired foreign players, Richard Gleeson and Jonny Bairstow, who were practically stand-ins, made an immediate impact.
“When you have a winning culture, it’s easier to try and have that same thing going through,” MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene adds. Therefore, the topic of our discussions is how to improve. Having that experience does assist, and those veteran guys exhibit that winning attitude.
We had a lot of new people after the large auction, but I believe that introducing them to Mumbai’s history, our way of life, and our mindset that we “will never die from a situation” helped them get to know us better. We will always persevere.
To defeat the Mumbai Indians, a team that appears to have the manpower to handle any crisis, Ponting and Iyer will need to come up with a plan. Although the Kings have played brave cricket this season—they have even defeated MI once—Qualifier 2, which is essentially a quarterfinal, is a completely different challenge. It is well acknowledged that experience matters in these high-stakes competitions.
Probable Playing XIIs:
Punjab Kings (probable): 1 Prabhsimran Singh, 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Josh Inglis (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Harpreet Brar/Vyshak Vijaykumar, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra Chahal
Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Raj Bawa, 9 Richard Gleeson/Reece Topley, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Trent Boult, 12 Ashwani Kumar
Pitch and weather report:
It’s difficult to anticipate when the pitch is covered, but a high-scoring match is likely. Nine of the 14 IPL 2025 innings played in Ahmedabad have seen totals of more than 200, which is the highest at any one location throughout an IPL season.
Unless one team has a major breakdown, like Punjab did in Qualifier 1, that pattern is anticipated to resume on Sunday night. Six of the seven games have been won by teams batting first, with the lone victory for a pursuing team occurring during a day game. Thus, whichever captain wins the toss may decide to bat.
Head-to-head record:
In 33 confrontations, the Mumbai Indians have won 17 of them, the Punjab Kings have won 15, and one match has ended in a draw.
Prediction:
MI is favourite to win the game.
Where to watch:
India: Star Sports Network, JioHotstar
Australia: Kayo TV, FoxTel Go
Bangladesh: T Sports, Toffee app
New Zealand: Sky Sports NZ
South Africa: SuperSport
Sri Lanka: Dialog
UK: Sky Sports, SkyGo
USA: Willow TV
Afghanistan: ATN
MENA: Cricbuzz
