Match 34 – Punjab vs Mumbai: CrickingDuels Fantasy Guide

This CrickingDuels Fantasy guide is for the match 34 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season which will be played between Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Mumbai Indians (MI). The game will be played at the Holkar Stadium in Indore which is the new home of the former side for this season. It is the first game at the venue and the pitch here is generally known to produce runs. Having said that the bowling of the hosts have been very good and Mumbai will have to play really well to go past them in this encounter.

The defending champions are in a desperate position to win every game now which might bring the best out of them. They haven’t come good for long and the must-win situation might just be the impetus they need. On the other hand, Punjab will have to be careful as they are coming off a seven-day break and would be wanting to get back the winning momentum soon. Here we bring to you the CrickingDuels Fantasy guide for the game:

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) vs Mumbai Indians (MI)

Batsmen

The openers from both the teams, Chris Gayle and Suryakumar Yadav, are picked by me first up as they are in great form. While Gayle can tear apart any bowling attack on his day, Surya gives me the assurance of few points with his strokeplay. Rohit Sharma is the big match player and a big knock from might just be around. I am doing away with Evin Lewis who didn’t play the last game due to injury and it is still not clear if he will be able to make it. The fourth batsman in my line-up would be Karun Nair to take control of the middle-order.

All-Rounders

I will go for Pandya brothers purely based on form. Krunal Pandya is personally my favourite. He contributes four overs with the ball and bats decently well in the middle order. More often than not he picks up a wicket or two and then goes on to score 20 odd runs which are enough for me. Hardik was a surprise in the last game as he proved to be effective which is why I am going with him with a hope that he could just continue his good job.

There are other all-rounders like Axar Patel who is fit again and then JP Duminy but none of them is assuring me so many points which Pandya brothers do.

Wicketkeeper

Undoubtedly, KL Rahul is my wicketkeeper with the sublime form he is in. There is a chance that he would go big on the day after relaxing for last 7 days. Ishan Kishan is also the other option but his form has been too poor of late and my vote would rather go against picking him.

Bowlers

All the bowlers are available at decent credits for me here. I will go with the ones who would pick me wickets during both the innings. Ankit Rajpoot is fresh from his five-wicket haul and is making an impact upfront and at the backend of the innings as well. Andrew Tye is the death overs specialist which more often than not gets him wickets. From the Mumbai side, I will go with Mayank Markande who has impressed a lot this season and his variations are tough to pick. Jasprit Bumrah is an automatic pick again with his ability to nait the yorkers at the death.

So here’s our final CrickingDuels Fantasy team for this game: