MI vs PBKS, Match 24 Preview: Struggling Mumbai take on Punjab in top form; check head-to-head, pitch report, more

Mumbai Indians host Punjab Kings at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, 16 April, at 7:30 PM IST in Match 24 of IPL 2026. The last time these two sides met was in the second Qualifier of IPL 2025. At that time, PBKS knocked MI out.

Since then, the gap between them has only widened. PBKS are the only unbeaten side in the tournament, sitting in third place with three wins from 3 completed matches.

MI have lost 3 in a row after winning their opener and sit second from bottom. To compound things, Rohit Sharma's fitness is in doubt after he retired hurt against RCB.

This is not the MI vs PBKS of recent years. It is a side searching for answers against a side that seems to have found all of them.

Thursday evening will be uncomfortable conditions for players. The last Wankhede game saw dew. Despite RCB winning batting first, the trend at this ground remains firmly in favour of chasing. The match will be broadcast LIVE on Star Sports and stream on JioHotstar.

Head-to-Head Record

MI and PBKS have faced each other 34 times in the IPL, with both sides level at 17 wins each. That makes this one of the most perfectly balanced rivalries in the tournament.

MI's highest score against PBKS is 223; PBKS's highest against MI is 230. The lowest scores are 87 (MI) and 119 (PBKS).

Recent form has swung sharply in PBKS' favour. In 2025, PBKS won both meetings, by 7 wickets and 5 wickets. The second match was the Qualifier that eliminated MI.

In 2023, PBKS won by 13 runs in one encounter, and the Mumbai Indians won by 6 wickets. Before that, MI won in 2024 by 9 runs.

Going back further, PBKS have won 4 of the last 6 completed meetings. MI's most recent dominant run in this fixture was in 2020, where they won by 48 runs. That season had a double Super Over match that Punjab won.

The momentum belongs firmly to PBKS right now.

Team News Predicted XI

The biggest MI team news is Rohit Sharma's injury. He retired hurt on 19 off 13 against RCB with what appeared to be a hamstring issue. He arrived late at the nets on 15 April for light warm-ups and a short hit. But, there has been no confirmation on his availability.

If he cannot play, MI face an awkward selection puzzle. Their ideal solution would be to open with Quinton de Kock. But, that requires dropping one of Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner or Trent Boult. Or, Quinton de Kock can come as an Impact Player for Boult.

If MI prefer to retain those three, Vidarbha opener Danish Malewar would be the straight swap. Alternatively, if MI want to address their bowling economy issues by leaving out the expensive Boult, de Kock slots in naturally. Will Jacks is still unavailable. He has not yet arrived in India.

MI's likely XI: Rohit Sharma or Quinton de Kock (IP) and Ryan Rickelton open, Suryakumar Yadav at No. 3, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult (IP).

PBKS have no fitness concerns and have played the same team in all their completed matches this season, with all results going their way. No changes are expected.

PBKS's likely XI: Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh open, Cooper Connolly at No. 3, Shreyas Iyer at No. 4, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal (Impact Player).

Key Players to Watch

Shreyas Iyer returns to Wankhede, where he was a franchise player for years. He is now leading the side that knocked MI out of last year's Qualifier. He has led PBKS's batting surge of late and captained them to three successive wins.

Whether he gets a special reception from the crowd is one subplot; whether he makes a statement with the bat is the one that matters for the match.

Yuzvendra Chahal is PBKS' single most dangerous weapon against MI's middle order. He has dismissed both Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya 4 times each in their IPL careers.

Suryakumar strikes at just 132 against him; Hardik at a near-impotent 95. If Chahal gets through MI's top order and reaches these two at the Wankhede under lights, he could single-handedly dismember MI's batting unit.

Tilak Varma is the MI batter whose return to form matters most. He has fallen to spin 3 times in 4 games this season and has a high score of just 20, averaging 8.75. He is, at his best, the batter who can hold MI's middle and lower order together and switch gears at will.

His confidence has clearly taken a hit, and the PBKS bowling unit, Chahal, Jansen and Arshdeep, will target him aggressively. If MI are to compete, they need Tilak to stop failing against spin.

Ryan Rickelton faces a specific challenge from both PBKS left-armers. Against Arshdeep, he has struck at 139 and been dismissed twice in 36 balls. Against Marco Jansen, he has been dismissed 3 times in 46 balls.

PBKS will target Rickelton with both left-arm quicks early in the powerplay to put pressure on MI's opening partnership, especially if Rohit does not play.

Trent Boult's place in the MI XI is in question. He conceded a costly 22-run over against RR and has not been sharp in terms of either pace or accuracy since returning from two months without competitive cricket.

His record against Prabhsimran is the one incentive to persist with him. He has dismissed the PBKS opener 3 times while conceding just 31 runs in 31 balls.

Arshdeep Singh, on the other hand, has not picked up a powerplay wicket in his last 10 IPL innings. It’s an alarming run for an India T20I spearhead. His economy of 10.64 this season is one of the worst of his career.

At a ground where PBKS will want their pace attack to deliver early wickets against a vulnerable MI top order, the pressure on Arshdeep to break his powerplay drought is significant.

Pitch Report

Surface + grass: Wankhede Stadium has now hosted 125 IPL matches, with the last T20 played here on 12 April 2026. It was the RCB vs MI match in which RCB posted 240/4, now the highest team innings at this ground. The average score batting first is 171.38, at 8.62 runs per over.

All 4 Wankhede innings in IPL 2026 so far have produced totals of 220 or more. That’s dramatically above the historical average. The highest run chase at this ground remains 224/4, set by MI themselves against KKR on 29 March 2026.

New ball (3–4 overs): The red soil at Wankhede makes pace bowling come on nicely to the bat. The surface offers carry and pace without excessive swing, which is exactly why aggressive openers enjoy batting here.

This is a ground where spinners play a peripheral role. That’s significant given PBKS's preference for attacking pace bowling and MI's reliance on pace in the powerplay.

Middle overs: PBKS statistically attack pace more than spin, and the Wankhede surface suits that preference. Chahal will still be deployed. But, the scoring rate in the middle overs at this ground remains high because the pitch does not decelerate significantly. Both batting units will aim to maintain 9-plus run rates through the middle phase.

Dew + toss call: Chasing teams have won 67 of 125 matches at Wankhede (53.60%). The last game here saw a fair bit of dew and with the humidity surging, dew is likely to arrive during the second innings on Thursday evening. Hardik will likely bowl first if he wins the toss; so will Shreyas.

Par score range: All 4 Wankhede games in IPL 2026 have produced 220-plus totals. The historical average of 171.38 is irrelevant to the current scoring environment. A realistic par score here is 210–230.

Anything above 225 puts even the most confident chasing side under serious pressure. Given MI's batting struggles, if PBKS bat first and bat as they have been, a total in the 220-230 range could be match-winning.

Where to Watch

The match is LIVE on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 Hindi from 7:30 PM IST. The live-streaming is on JioHotstar. UK viewers can watch iit on Sky Sports Cricket. Viewers in Australia can watch it on Fox Cricket or Kayo Sports. Viewers in the USA and Canada can watch it on Willow TV.

Match 24 is MI's last chance to arrest a 3-game slide before the table starts to look very difficult for them. Punjab, on the other hand, want to topple RCB for the top spot in the points table. Match on!