Kolkata Knight Riders will look to iron out their flaws and get the higher of a mis-firing Mumbai Indians when the 2 groups, positioned on the other ends of IPL factors desk spectrum, conflict right here on Friday.
With six wins in 9 video games giving them 12 factors and the second place within the IPL factors desk, a berth within the playoffs seems to be throughout the grasp of two-time winners KKR.
But the Shreyas Iyer-led facet may have to discover consistency throughout departments and keep away from any slip-ups so as to make it to the ultimate 4.
Each of their three losses have come within the final six video games for KKR, who had been on the receiving finish of a file run chase by Punjab Kings however did effectively to bounce again with a seven-wicket thrashing of Delhi Capitals.
With the bat, KKR’s requisite firepower within the ranks entwined with an ultra-aggressive strategy has delivered the products most of the time however it’s their bowling which wants enchancment.
Mitchell Starc has given almost 12 runs an over whereas managing a mere seven wickets in eight outings. On flat, batting-friendly pitches, the lanky Australian’s lack of management has additionally been exploited effectively by zealous batters.
Harshit Rana is amongst these with most wickets (11) for KKR this season however the right-arm seamer will serve a one-match ban for his animated celebrations after dismissing DC’s Abhishek Porel.
Vaibhav Arora’s 9 scalps in 5 video games make him KKR’s greatest guess with the ball. A small Wankhede Stadium with a batting-friendly wicket tends to encourage scores in extra of 200 and the workforce could be conscious of that.
Spotlight may also be on Rinku Singh, whose exclusion from India’s principal squad for the T20 World Cup, has triggered an outpouring of sympathy for the 26-year-old. The power-hitter has not acquired sufficient recreation time this season which in all probability tilted the scales against him.
For Mumbai Indians, the race to the IPL playoffs appears misplaced despite the fact that the five-time winners have 5 extra video games to play.
Even if Mumbai Indians win every of those, they will solely get to 16 factors and someplace in the course of the factors desk — not essentially difficult those that have been constantly good.
Jasprit Bumrah (14 wickets) and Gerald Coetzee (13) have been MI’s greatest bets with the ball however regardless of their spectacular exhibiting, the batters’ collective failure has resulted within the workforce’s underwhelming season.
Tilak Varma has been MI’s greatest batter with 343 runs, together with three fifties this IPL, however his performances haven’t been sufficient to cover the failings of others.
Ishan Kishan has struck the ball effectively however severely lacks consistency on the prime and dropping wickets in heaps within the powerplay has been considered one of MI’s greatest woes on this season.
India skipper Rohit Sharma’s (315 runs at strike fee of 158.29) selfless strategy with the bat has not given him large scores constantly however his kind will probably be in focus given the T20 World Cup is now only one month away.
All eyes may also be on Suryakumar Yadav who has two fifties in seven IPL video games this season, however it isn’t the consistency which is predicted from the batter of his calibre.
Mumbai Indians’ under-fire skipper Hardik Pandya has neither dazzled with the ball nor the bat after a protracted damage lay-off. however the truth that he finds himself within the Indian facet as vice-captain for the World Cup ought to encourage him to flip issues round.
Teams (from)
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Allah Ghazanfar, Phil Salt.
Match begins 7:30pm IST.
