This is going to be an exciting game with Mumbai Indians taking on Kolkata Knight Riders at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Both Mumbai and Kolkata are back on the winning track after a sensational victory in their previous game.
Rohit Sharma & Co. finally won a battle against Delhi Capitals after two back-to-back losses. They opted to chase in Delhi and won a thriller that went down to the wire. Skipper Rohit Sharma scored a sensational half-century whereas Cameron Green and Tim David did the rest in the end.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders have given us a match to remember for the rest of our life. Even after sensational stuff with the bat from Gujarat Titans, KKR chased down the target of 205, all credit goes to Rinku Singh who smashed five sixes in the last over of Yash Dayal.
Fans can expect another thriller between two in-form teams and having a game at the batting-friendly Wankhede will make it even more interesting. Let us take a look at the preview and prediction of the match:
What have they done so far?
Mumbai Indians were off to a poor start in this IPL with two straight losses against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings respectively but the champion team made a terrific comeback in the league by beating the Capitals by 6 wickets in their third match.
Rohit Sharma’s stupendous effort in the match earned him the Man of the Match award whereas Piyush Chawla helped his side with an economical spell of 3 for 22 in his 4 overs.
Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, lost their first encounter against Punjab Kings before making a king-type return in the next two matches. They defeated RCB by 81 runs in their second match followed by a sensational victory against Gujarat Titans.
Mumbai and Kolkata are two of the most popular franchises in the league with their fan base touching millions. It is going to be a huge match with most of the players from both sides being in fantastic form.
Head to Head Record
Talking about their head-to-head record, Kolkata is way behind Mumbai in terms of winning matches. Out of 31 matches to date, KKR has only won 9 encounters whereas Mumbai Indians became victorious on 22 occasions.
Clearly, MI has been a dominant side when it comes to playing against Kolkata Knight Riders. But this time, KKR looks like a completely different side, also their form has been tremendous. Nitish Rana & Co. would really want to win their 10th match against Mumbai Indians.
Key Players
Rohit Sharma: After a terrible start to the tournament, Rohit Sharma made a statement regarding senior players that he alongside other seniors needs to perform if the team has to do well and it was clearly visible in their third game when the Hitman and Piyush Chawla, both did their job quite well.
The match against KKR will be a crucial one for Mumbai and Rohit Sharma. The skipper needs to continue his good run with the willow if the team needs to put up a good total.
Rinku Singh: Rinku Singh has become everyone’s favourite after his sensational stuff in the last over against Gujarat Titans’ Yash Dayal. There were seasons before when he used to be a substitute fielder for KKR and now there is no question of keeping him out of the playing XI.
Rinku Singh has been in a scintillating form in this IPL so far
Fans would expect Rinku to play another power-packed knock, this time against Mumbai Indians, but it is not going to be easy in front of an attack like Jason Behrendorff, Riley Meredith and Piyush Chawla.
Predicted XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana ©, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Suyash Sharma, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma ©, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Cameron Green, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Arshad Khan, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff
Prediction
Mumbai Indians is a strong side on paper but Kolkata Knight Riders cannot be ignored this time. They have beaten the last year’s champion Gujarat Titans in sumptuous fashion and it won’t be surprising if they repeat their heroics against Mumbai.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma has always been a great thinker in the field. He knows really well about the flaws of the opposition’s batters and whom to bowl against which player making it an interesting battle on Sunday afternoon.