The 31st match of the Indian Premier League 2023 is scheduled to play between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings on Saturday 22nd April 2023 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Mumbai Indians did not have a good opening start to this edition of IPL and lost two opening matches in a row against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings but they bounced back strongly and now had won three consecutive matches against Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Now they had played five matches with three wins to their name. They had lost two matches and are holding the sixth position on the points table. Another win in this match can move this team into the top four teams. The performance of the Punjab Kings had not been much impressive in this tournament. They had played six matches with three wins to their name. They had lost three matches and are situated in the 7th position on the table.

Mumbai Indians had beaten Sunrisers Hyderabad in their most recent match and earlier they won their match against Kolkata Knight Riders. The bowling unit of Mumbai Indians is not much stronger for this tournament and this is the key reason why they struggled in almost each and every match this tournament. They don’t have any experienced bowlers in their squad. Arjun Tendulkar, Cameron Green, Duan Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Hrithik Shokeen, and Riley Meredith are leading bowlers of Mumbai Indians and they did not perform in their most recent match against Kolkata Knight Riders and leaked 185 runs in 20 overs. Hrithik Shokeen was the highest wicket-taker from their side with two wickets to his name in four overs against 34 runs. Piyush Chawla proved the most economical bowler from their side with one wicket to his name in four overs against just 19 runs. Cameron Green also picked one wicket while he leaked 20 runs in two overs. Duan Jansen was the other bowler with a wicket to his name but he leaked a lot of runs. He was charged with 53 runs in four overs.

Riley Meredith picked up one wicket in four overs against 41 runs. Arjun Tendulkar was finally given a chance in the playing eleven of Mumbai Indians after a wait of three years. Remember that he had been the part of Mumbai Indians franchise for the previous three editions and for the first time, he played for his team. He was given two overs to bowl where he leaked 17 runs and failed to pick any wicket. The batting order of Mumbai Indians is back to good and this is big news for the fans of this team. They were good in a match earlier and also performed well in their most recent match. The top and middle batting order of this team is now performing well. They chased the target of 186 runs in just 17.3 overs with five wickets in hand. Almost every batsman from their side put some runs on the board. Ishan Kishan was the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side. He scored 58 runs on just 25 balls with the help of five boundaries and the same huge sixes. Suryakumar Yadav was struggling in previous matches but he also performed well in the most recent match and scored 43 runs. He faced 25 balls and smashed four boundaries and three huge sixes during his inning. Tilak Varma scored 30 runs while Tim David remained not out after scoring 20 runs. Now they are going to face Punjab Kings and we think that can easily beat this team in this match.

Punjab Kings were beaten by Royal Challengers Bangalore in their most recent match and before this, they beat the strong team of this tournament Lucknow Super Giants. The bowling unit of this team is strong and they have also more options to use the bowlers as per requirements. Their most recent match against Lucknow Super Giants is a big example of it where they used seven bowlers. Matthew Short is leading the bowling unit of this team with Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Sam Curran, Harpreet Brar, Sikandar Raza, and Rahul Chahar. These all bowlers performed well in their most recent match and leaked just 159 runs in 20 overs. The skipper, Sam Curran was the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side with three wickets to his name in four overs against 31 runs. Kagiso Rabada was the other bowler who had an outstanding performance with the ball. He had two wickets in four overs while he was charged with 34 runs. Arshdeep Singh was not performing well in previously played matches but he performed well in the most recent match and picked one wicket in three overs against 22 runs.

Harpreet Brar and Sikandar Raza also performed well and picked one wicket each in the previous match. Sikandar Raza become the first Zimbabwe players who won the match of the match award in the Indian Premier League. The batting order of Punjab Kings is also strong but we don’t think that they were good in the previous match where they chased a low target of 160 runs in 19.3 overs. Atharva Taide and Prabhsimran Singh open the batting inning of Punjab Kings but failed to provide a good opening start and both opening batsmen came back to the pavilion with a total of just 17 runs. Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, and Sikandar Raza are handling the middle batting order of this team and all batsmen performed well in the middle order. Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma, and Shahrukh Khan did not perform well in the lower batting order. Sikandar Raza proved the most successful and highest run-scorer from their side with 57 runs to his name on 41 balls with the help of four boundaries and three huge sixes. Matthew Short was the other batsman who had an outstanding performance with the bat and scored 34 runs. He faced 22 balls and smashed five boundaries and one huge six. Shahrukh Khan scored 23 runs on just 10 balls with the help of one boundary and two huge sixes and remained not out till the chase of the target. Harpreet Singh Bhatia scored 22 runs. Punjab Kings are not a weak team and they have to give a chance to their bench strength to get better results in the next matches.

Mumbai Indians had faced Punjab Kings in 29 matches where they had won 15 matches while Punjab Kings had won 14 matches against Mumbai Indians.

Mumbai Indians had won three out of the previous five matches played so far while the Punjab Kings had won two out of the previous five matches.

Mumbai Indians is a strong and well-balanced team and have a strong batting and bowling department which is in good form. The batting and bowling squad of this team is much stronger at least on paper. According to today’s prediction, Mumbai Indians is the favorite team who will win this match. There are many factors that make Mumbai Indians a favorite team to win this match. Some of the key factors are mentioned as under:

• Mumbai Indians had now won three matches in a row
• The key players of Mumbai Indians are back in good form
• The bowling unit of Mumbai Indians is also performing well
• Punjab Kings have some match winners in its squad
• The bowling unit of Punjab Kings is also strong at least on paper

Mumbai Indians is overall a strong team when we compare it with Punjab Kings. They have the best players in the t20 format of cricket. The batting order of this team is also strong and some well-known hitters of the t20 format are part of the squad of this team, so the winning chances of today’s match for Mumbai Indians have been increased. The equation of who will win today’s cricket match prediction and who will win the cricket match today is mentioned as under.

Mumbai Indians have a 52% chance to win this match
Punjab Kings has a 48% chance to win this match

The toss is going to play an important in the result of each and every match of IPL 2023 as we had observed in the previous editions of this tournament. According to the toss prediction, the team who will win the toss will elect to field first as defending had been difficult in the most recent matches of IPL. Remember that 52% of matches had been won by chasing teams at Narendra Modi Stadium.

The 31st match of IPL T20, 2023 is going to be held at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is known for being a high-scoring ground, with plenty of runs on offer for batsmen. The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium typically has a good balance between pace and bounce, which helps both batsmen and fast bowlers. In the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Wankhede Stadium has been a popular venue for high-scoring matches, with scores of over 200 runs being chased down successfully in the past. The pitch tends to favor batsmen in the early part of the match but can slow down and assist spin bowlers as the game progresses. Overall, the Wankhede Stadium pitch in Mumbai is considered to be one of the best cricket pitches in India, providing an exciting and challenging platform for both batsmen and bowlers.

The weather forecast for Mumbai is good for this cricket match. There are some chances of rain but we are expecting a full match. Mumbai typically experiences hot and humid weather in April. The average temperature during this month ranges from 26 to 33 degrees Celsius (79 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit), with high humidity levels. It is advisable to stay hydrated and wear light, breathable clothing if you are visiting Mumbai in April. Additionally, it is also the start of the pre-monsoon season, so occasional showers and thunderstorms may occur.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff.

Punjab Kings: Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.

It will be updated shortly

• Date: Saturday, 22nd April 2023
• Time: 02:00 PM GMT / 07:30 PM LOCAL / 07:30 PM IST

• Stadium: Wankhede Stadium
• Location: Mumbai, India
• Opened: 1974
• Capacity: 33,000
• Ends: Garware Pavilion End, Tata End
• Time Zone: UTC +05:30
• Home to: Mumbai, Mumbai Indians
• Floodlights: Yes
• Curator: Sudhir Naik

Riley Meredith, Ramandeep Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Shams Mulani, Vishnu Vinod, Duan Jansen, Arshad Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Jofra Archer, Akash Madhwal, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Raghav Goyal, Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff.