Bottom-placed sides desperate to climb up

Before the beginning of IPL 2026, many specialists rated Mumbai Indians (MI) among the many strongest sides for this season. They began emphatically, chasing down 221 towards Kolkata Knight Riders with 5 balls to spare. It was the primary time since 2012 that MI gained their first match of an IPL season. All that may be a distant reminiscence now as they discover themselves at No. 9 on the factors desk with simply two wins from 9 video games and their playoff hopes hanging by the thinnest of threads.

Their opponents for Monday’s recreation on the Wankhede Stadium are Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), they usually too are in an analogous scenario. They began the season by successful two of their first three video games however are actually on a five-match dropping streak. While the LSG seamers have been among the many finest within the match, their batters have struggled – none extra so than Nicholas Pooran. Moved down from his ordinary No. 3 spot, Pooran has scored simply 82 runs in eight innings at a strike price of 81.18.