Indian Premier League 2020: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul look to turn tables as Mumbai Indians face Kings XI Punjab

After slumping to two defeats from three matches, defending champion Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab will both be desperate for a victory when they battle it out in Match 13 of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Image Credits: Twitter/@mipaltan

After slumping to two defeats from three matches, defending champions Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab will both be desperate for a victory when they battle it out in Match 13 of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

The Rohit Sharma-led side kicked off their campaign at the 13th season of the lucrative T20 tournament against Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with a five-wicket defeat before registering their first win with a 49-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in their second match.

However, Mumbai Indians failed to capitalise on the same and suffered a Super Over defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Kings XI Punjab, on the other hand, began their tournament with a Super Over defeat against Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi Capitals before sealing a crushing 97-run win over the Virat Kohli-led RCB in the second match.

The KL Rahul-led side then suffered a four-wicket defeat at the hands of Steve Smith's Rajasthan Royals in their last fixture.

Despite clinching just one victory in the three matches they have played so far, the Kings XI Punjab had displayed some really impressive peformances with the bat, especially by openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. The two openers are currently the two leading run-scorers of the IPL 2020 with a total of 222 and 221 runs, respectively.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians are currently languishing down at the sixth position in the IPL standings and are yet to clinch a big win.

Talking about head-to-head record between the two sides, four-time winners Mumbai Indians hold a slight advantage over Kings XI Punjab going into the clash.

The two teams have faced each other in a total of 24 IPL matches, with Mumbai Indians emerging victorious on 13 occasions and KXIP winning 11 of them.

The Mumbai-based franchise also holds a better record than Kings XI Punjab as far as the last five meetings between the two sides are concerned. Rohit Sharma's side has won three of the last five clashes against the Punjab-based team.

The two squads are as follows:

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayant Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai 

Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Glenn Maxwell, Nicholas Pooran, Karun Nair, James Neesham, Sarfaraz Khan, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Chris Jordan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Hardus Viljoen, Jagadeesha Suchith, Ishan Porel, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Tajinder Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Arshdeep Singh, Simran Singh, Harpreet Brar