Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians, who are riding a victory juggernaut with four wins on the trot, will take on struggling Kings XI Punjab in Indore on Thursday.
Although KXIP suffered three consecutive defeats, all of these came in away matches and now they are back in Indore, where they routed Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rising Pune Supergiant in their initial IPL matches. However, Mumbai bowling coach Shane Bond is not at all intimidated by the fact that KXIP are formidable at the Holkar Stadium.
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“We treat them (KXIP) as every other team. Because we have beaten last year’s champions SRH, or RCB or KKR doesn’t mean we can let our guard down against a team that has lost three games in a row,” Bond said as quoted by ‘iplt20’.
The 41-year-old New Zealander termed Holkar pitch “a good wicket with nice grass covering”.
“It is hot, and (the pitch is) dry underneath, so I think the bounce is something that we are going to have to adjust to. The boundary is small, so I reckon we have to score around 200 – 220 (if we bat first),” Bond explained Mumbai’s to be plan against KXIP.
Mumbai’s all four wins came with courtesy to middle-order as it’s players like Nitish Rana, Kieron Pollard, Hardik and Krunal Pandya, in whom Mumbai seek their core strength.
“Contributions from everyone are obviously really important. We have done well at the moment. There have been a couple of games we have won that we probably shouldn’t have won and got over the line and that has to do with players putting up their hands up at key times,” Bond added, while referring to Mumbai’s current winning streak.
