Punjab v Mumbai at Mohali IPL 2011 Live Preview

The Match: In this 54th game of the Indian Premier League this year, the Mumbai Indians will travel to the PCA Stadium in Mohali to play the Kings XI Punjab. The two teams could not be more polarised when it comes to their positions in the points table, what with the Mumbai Indians at the number one position and the Punjab side at the bottom of the table.

How the two teams match up: The Mumbai Indians are streets ahead of the opposition and it will be a huge surprise if the results went any other way. The Mumbai side have played ten of their 14 games and won eight of them. On the other hand, the Kings XI Punjab have won three but lost six, which means that they are left with no option but to win all their remaining games to have any chance of going through to the last four stage, the playoffs.

Ground Conditions: Usually, the ground at Mohali is an easy one to bat on, but in the game between Punjab and Pune on Sunday, the teams struggled to get a move on. Punjab had managed only 119 which was chased down by Pune, but not without difficulties. >

The Teams: The Mumbai Indians had gone in with Aiden Blizzard in the previous game who provided the side with a sizzling start, thanks to his hard-hitting ways. He should continue to open the innings, with Sachin Tendulkar, who will look to ensure that he can get back to his run-scoring ways. It has almost looked like he is a tad confused about how to go about his batting, whether to bat through the innings or to hit out from the word go.

With batsmen like Kieron Pollard and Andrew Symonds waiting down the order, it will make sense for him to be a tad more aggressive than he has been in the tournament.

The Kings XI Punjab will look at their opening batsmen to get going. The two of them, Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthaty have not got going recently and that will need to change if they have to have a chance of overcoming the Mumbai Indians.

Players to look out for: The Kings XI Punjab will need their bowling duo of Ryan Harris and Praveen Kumar to get some early wickets while Mumbai Indians will depend on Harbhajan Singh to slow down the scoring in the middle overs.

Prediction: Mumbai Indians win this easy.