A fierce battle is on the cards as both teams will be desperate to record their first win after having lost their first two matches.

Despite the presence of Preity Zinta, the owner of the Punjab team, the 35,000-capacity PCA stadium was only one-third full in the inaugural match. The presence of Sachin Tendulkar, Punjab's Harbhajan Singh, Sanath Jaysuriya and Shaun Pollock and the home team's Brett Lee and Yuvraj Singh may have the spectators thronging the stadium.

‘Good fare’ promise

Yuvraj, the Kings XI captain, promises ‘good fare’ from the two teams. The left-hander also said Harbhajan, leading the team for the injured Tendulkar, would be hoping for a win too.

The mercurial off-spinner may lead the Mumbai team in Friday's match too as the grapevine hinted that Tendulkar may not take the field yet again. "I hope he doesn't play," Yuvraj said of Tendulkar with a twinkle in his eye, hinting that his beleaguered side, though boasting international stars like Brett Lee, Kumar Sangakkara, James Hopes and Mahela Jayawardene, could do without dealing with the additional headache of containing the master blaster.

About his own short, but none-too-happy stint as captain, Yuvraj admitted: "It has been tough. I have made a few mistakes. It has been a good learning experience."

Despite boasting a pace battery consisting of Lee, S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan, the Kings XI conceded a whopping 240 runs to Chennai Super Kings in their inaugural match here. They were then bowled them out for 207. In their second encounter, the batting failed to click as Kings XI were bundled out for 165 against the Rajasthan Royals. 

A weary Mumbai team was expected to reach late in the evening here after suffering a close six-run defeat at the hands of Super Kings in Chennai on Wednesday. It was Mumbai's second straight defeat. They lost their opener to Royal Challengers Bangalore.