Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings - IPL 2022 Match 23: Who Will Win?

Mumbai Indians Team Preview

At the start of the competition, the Mumbai Indians were one of the favourites to go on and lift the trophy, but they have had a horrendous start to their campaign, losing their first four matches. They are now a full six points off of a Play-Off spot, so if they lose once again, they can probably kiss goodbye to their slim chances of qualifying for the next stage of this tournament.

In their last match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they were put into bat first and could only manage a score of 151/6 from their 20 overs. Wanindu Hasaranga picked up two wickets for 28 runs from the four overs that he bowled, while Harshal Patel also picked up two wickets for 23 runs from his four overs. The only batsman who did not struggle against the RCB bowling attack was Suryakumar Yadav, who smashed 68 from 37 balls. The MI found themselves 79/6 at one stage, after having been 50/0 after 6.1 overs.

Whenever we are doing some online cricket betting on the IPL, we like to place bets on the Top Scorer for each team. So, from the Mumbai Indians, who do we believe will top score for them? Well, we cannot look beyond Yadav as he is their form batsman at the moment. If others had the same form that he is in, then we are sure that they would have won a match by now.

With just 151 runs to defend, the MI bowlers knew that they would have to be at the top of their game in order to break their losing streak. In their defence, none of them bowled really badly, but they just did not pick up enough wickets to cause the RCB any issues. Jaydev Unadkat was the pick of their bowlers, collecting one wicket and conceding 30 runs from the four overs that he bowled. The other main bowlers had a decent enough economy of between 7.00-8.00, but they lacked in the wickets department.

We also love betting on the Top Bowler when it comes to IPL betting, so who would we recommend you put your money on being the Top Bowler for the Mumbai Indians? Well, we would suggest that you put your money on Jasprit Bumrah. Yes, he has been struggling to collect wickets lately, but there is no doubt that he is an extremely talented and we are sure he will start picking up wickets soon.

Will there be any changes to the MI playing XI? Well, their bowling attack has not been that potent as of late, so we reckon that Tymal Mills will be given a game due to his express pace. If he does come into the team, then we think that Unadkat will probably be the player to make way.

Punjab Kings Team Preview

The Punjab Kings have two wins from their first four matches, meaning that they sit in seventh place with four points to their name, just one win off of a coveted play-off spot. They will be pretty annoyed that they did not manage to get over the line against the Gujurat Titans in their last match, after having entered the final over of the match with 19 runs to defend.

The Punjab Kings were put into bat by the GT, and Liam Livingstone once again showed his worth by smashing 64 runs from the 27 balls that he faced. Shikhar Dhawan chipped in with a brisk 35 at the top of the order, while Jitesh Sharma and Rahul Chahar scored 23 and 22 runs to help their team get to 189 runs from their 20 overs. The batsmen would have been pretty happy with the job that they had done.

When you are betting on the IPl at IPL betting sites, you will see that all of the top ones will allow you to bet on the player that you think will top score for a team. So, who would we recommend you bet on for the PBKS? Well, it is impossible to ignore Livingstone after the form that he is in - he has scored 162 runs in 4 matches. Also, we think that Jonny Bairstow is a good shout for Top Scorer, if you think that Livingstone is due a failure.

The bowlers had 189 to defend, and they would have been confident of doing so, especially when it came to the last over of the game and the GT needed 19 runs to win the match. However, Rahul Tewatia hit two sixes off the last two balls to earn his team the points. Chahar and Odean Smith were expensive in this match, conceding a total of 76 runs from the 7 overs that they bowled, collecting just the one wicket. Kagiso Rabada was their best bowler with two wickets for 35 runs from the four overs that he bowled.

Our IPL prediction for the Top Bowler for the PBKS is going to be Rabada. The reason for this is that we know how much of a talent he is and he just so happens to be, in our opinion, their best bowler. So, this is who we recommend you put your money on.

What about any changes to their starting XI for this match? Well, Smith really has not been performing as of late, so it would not be a surprise to see him dropped and replaced with the likes of Nathan Ellis.

Toss Prediction

When it comes to the toss prediction, it is obvious that the captain that wins the toss is going to opt to field first. Batting second has been an advantage so far in this competition because of the dew factor, so it would be a surprise to see the winning captain opt to bat first and put a score on the board.

Pitch Conditions

This match will take place at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium, which is a venue where the average first innings score in this year's IPL has been 173 runs. Therefore, this indicates that it is a pitch that offers some assistance to the batsmen, so the team that bats first will be looking to put a score of around 190 on the board in order to give themselves a good chance of going on to win the game.