Big picture: Can MI match PBKS's batting firepower?
How the ways part.
Since Mumbai Indians (MI) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) last met in the second Qualifier last year, when the two teams weren't too far apart, they have taken completely different paths. If PBKS have smashed their way to second spot (before Wednesday's game) and are the only unbeaten team of IPL 2026 so far, MI have slipped down to second from bottom, with issues plaguing both their batting and bowling departments.
The Mumbai man who saw PBKS through to knock MI out last year - Shreyas Iyer - will turn out at his home ground on Thursday and he has led his team's batting surge of late. PBKS have the second-best run rate (10.05) and balls-per-sixes ratio (8.70) of any team, only behind RCB on both counts, and a defining feature of the standards they are setting is their refusal to slow down even when wickets fall.
Statistically, they have been attacking pace a lot more than spin which bodes well for them at Wankhede, where the red soil makes pace bowling come on the bat nicely and spinners typically play a peripheral role.
MI's batters needs to step up big time - they are lagging behind currently - as the last thing they would want is their opposition showing them how to bat at Wankhede. The first thing they would want is to end two streaks: they have lost three in a row since winning their opening game, and PBKS are yet to drop a match.
Form guide
Mumbai Indians LLLW (completed matches in IPL 2026, most recent first)
Punjab Kings WWW
Key Question
Team News
Rohit Sharma retired hurt on 19 off 13 against RCB because of what seemed like a hamstring issue. He arrived late at the nets on Wednesday evening for light warm-ups, some jogging and a short hit in the nets. There is no confirmation if he will be available for Thursday or not.
If he is not available, MI would ideally want to open with an established opener like Quinton de Kock, but that would mean leaving out another overseas player in either Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner or Trent Boult. If MI want to retain those three, a straight swap would be to bring in Vidarbha opener Danish Malewar. But if MI want to shake things up in their bowling attack by leaving out the expensive Boult for Ashwani Kumar, then de Kock can be slotted in.
Will Jacks is still not available as he is on his way to India.
Mumbai Indians (likely XII): 1 Rohit Sharma/Danish Malewar, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Sherfane Rutherford, 8 Naman Dhir, 9 Mitchell Santner, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Trent Boult.
PBKS have no fitness issues and have played the same team in all their games so far with results going their way.
Punjab Kings (likely XII): 1 Priyansh Arya, 2 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 3 Cooper Connolly, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Xavier Bartlett, 10 Vijaykumar Vushak, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra Chahal.
In the spotlight
If Jasprit Bumrah has gone wicketless this season, Arshdeep Singh - India's other premier T20I fast bowler - has been leaking runs almost like never before in the IPL. His economy rate of 10.64 is marginally lower than the 10.90 he returned while playing just three games in his maiden season in 2019. Although he has been bowling only one over at the death (17-20) per game so far and has conceded just 8.50 in that phase, he has not picked up a wicket in the powerplay in his last 10 IPL innings.
Tilak Varma has been out to spin three times in four games and has managed a high score of only 20 to average a mere 8.75 so far. Tilak at his best is a formidable batter at No. 4, capable of holding the top order and lower order together with his ability to switch gears. MI will be desperate to see him among the runs again, which could help them revive their batting campaign.
Stats and trivia
It will be interesting to see how Ryan Rickelton comes up against the left-arm quicks of PBKS. Against Arshdeep, he has struck at only 139 while getting out twice to score 50 runs off 36 balls. While facing Marco Jansen, Rickelton has been dismissed three times in 46 balls while scoring 70 runs at a strike rate of 152.
Boult will be itching to bowl to Prabhsimran, having dismissed him three times while conceding just 31 runs in as many balls.
How will MI take on Chahal in the middle overs? The legspinner has dismissed Suryakumar and Hardik four times each with the two batters striking at 132 and 95 respectively against him.
All four innings at the Wankhede so far in this IPL have produced totals of 220 or more.
Pitch and conditions
There has been a sudden surge in temperatures in Mumbai and an orange alert has been issued for a heat wave for this week. With a maximum temperature in the late 30s (Celsius) expected and the humidity surging before the onset of the monsoon, Thursday evening won't be easy conditions to play in. The last game at the Wankhede saw a fair bit of dew and even though RCB won batting first, the trend there has been to chase.
