Mumbai Indians look to prevent an early exit from the playoff race when they host Kolkata Knight Riders for their 51st game of the season. Hardik Pandya’s side suffered a four-wicket defeat to LSG last time out and must win this contest to stay alive in this year’s competition.
KKR are on the verge of qualifying for the play-offs and have an edge against MI in head-to-head matches; thus needing one final victory to seal their place amongst the top two sides.
In this article, we will discuss the high light points of Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians Timeline.
KKR
At Wankhede Stadium, Match 51 of the Indian Premier League 2024 will be contested between KKR and MI, each boasting rich IPL histories and fierce rivalries. While KKR are looking to build on their impressive start to the season, MI needing to halt an untimely slump of poor form before continuing.
Eden Gardens pitch has long been recognised for its ideal batting conditions in the IPL, making it a prime venue for both teams to show their batsmanship. It offers slow yet consistent bounce that gives batsmen plenty of opportunities to hit into short boundaries with ease.
KKR are well-placed at the top of the points table, having won eight out of their 11 matches so far. But when they face eighth-placed Mumbai Indians on Saturday, they could be in for an unexpected challenge from them.
A victory for KKR would propelled them to the top of the table and would help secure them a play-off spot. Their strong home record against Mumbai may help them as they have battled it out 31 times during IPL play.
Even after losing the toss, KKR should still feel confident of posting an impressive total with their experienced bowling unit comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Nabi, Anshul Kamboj, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Piyush Chawla and Nehal Wadhera all taking part.
Home side’s batting has struggled this season, yet is still capable of scoring big runs when they want to. Shreyas Iyer leads with 291 runs from 12 games while Andre Russell comes close with 264.
KKR kept Robin Uthappa and Piyush Chawla as key members of their squad at auction, as well as signing South African all-rounder Chris Lynn and West Indian uncapped opener Ishank Jaggi from South Africa and West Indies respectively. Additionally, pace bowlers Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan were acquired as pace options; an RTM card was used on Australian quick Mitchell Starc and Kiwi fast bowler Angkrish Raghuvanshi respectively.
MI
Following their dominating win against Sunrisers Hyderabad, KKR now lead the table and have an excellent chance at making it into the playoffs. But this match will also be important for MI as any defeat could rule them out of contention for top four finishes – so expect an exciting clash! Both teams remain undefeated at home this season; an exciting battle awaits both sides.
KKR will also benefit from Sunil Narine’s return from injury; he missed their previous game and will look to add to his impressive run total this season. Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma will aim to extend his fine form with bat in order to help secure a top four position for his team.
Kolkata and Mumbai Indians have met 33 times throughout IPL history, with Kolkata winning 23 times while MI claimed 10 of these encounters. At Wankhede Stadium recently, Kolkata beat MI by narrow margin to break a 12-year losing streak against them and end their losing streak against KKR.
Mumbai Indians have experienced difficulty against their city rivals this season, winning only once of the five meetings that have taken place so far. They will look to redeem their previous defeat and secure playoff qualification.
Both teams will likely field their strongest lineups for this crucial clash. It will be interesting to see whether Mumbai Indians rest key players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya ahead of next month’s World Cup tournament.
KKR will look to build on their recent win against Sunrisers with another solid performance at Eden Gardens. Their spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Angkrish Raghuvanshi should play an instrumental role in helping KKR secure another big victory.
MI’s recent away record has been dismal, winning just once out of their last five matches. Yet they remain in contention for playoff contention and should rely on their powerful batting line-up for support. They will hope for better showings against city rivals while increasing their win total on the road this season.
Result
This game will be of key significance for both sides, with KKR hoping to seal second place and MI needing a win to remain in playoff contention. Eden Gardens’ pitch has long been known for encouraging batting; both teams should expect plenty of runs in this encounter at Eden Gardens. KKR are in great form and should feel confident of coming away victorious; having won two straight matches, they have established an advantage over rival teams.
KKR have an edge against Mumbai Indians, having won 23 matches to their nine in head-to-head competition. But these teams have only met once so far this season – with KKR coming out victorious on that occasion. It will be fascinating to see if Mumbai can change their fortunes and give KKR some competition.
Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first after selecting first due to rain. Due to rain, play was reduced to 16 overs; Philip Salt returned from injury for Kolkata Knight Riders while Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Nitish Rana did not feature.
After an initially slow start, KKR eventually picked up pace and reached 100 in 11 overs with Andre Russell providing some big hits to speed things along. Unfortunately, their batsmen could not sustain this momentum during the second half and fell short by 18 runs.
Sunil Narine dismissed Ishan Kishan for an eight-ball 20 by bowling him, then went on to take out Nehal Wadhera in his next over for just four runs to leave their side at 88/3 in 11 overs. Andre Russell scored 14 runs off four balls before being bowled by Tilak Varma.
Mumbai Indians struggled against the pressure from Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers and were bowled out for just 145. That forced them to need 70 runs off 30 balls – a challenging proposition given this format of the game. Their hopes of reaching top four were dashed as they ended the day on 83/6 and were one point behind Delhi Capitals for fifth position.
Prediction
Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians will square off in this season’s 22nd match of the Indian Premier League at Wankhede Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal. Both sides have strong chances of making it into the playoffs but one loss could spell doom; with KKR holding an advantage due to their stronger lineup while MI are struggling in terms of both batting and bowling performance.
KKR have enjoyed an outstanding start to this season and their recent win against Delhi Daredevils provided them with much-needed momentum in the standings. Phil Salt and Sunil Narine have been impressive and will look to continue their good run against Mumbai while Andre Russell and Tom Baton must improve their Powerplay performances to help KKR compile high totals.
Mumbai Indians have struggled this season, finishing second-to-last in the standings. They need to improve their batting performances and increase their run rate to remain in contention for playoff qualification. Last week they experienced a crushing defeat against Rising Pune Supergiant; to keep playoff hopes alive they must secure victory against Kolkata Knight Riders this week.
KKR boasts a sterling record against Mumbai Indians in IPL, winning 19 out of 25 matches at Wankhede Stadium and defeating them by 24 runs last time they met at Wankhede. Expect this encounter to be tight; both teams will want a win to maintain playoff hopes.
Mumbai Indians will host their opening home game of this season at Wankhede Stadium and hope to make full use of their home ground advantage. Opening batsmen have struggled so far this season but hope for better starts against KKR. Furthermore, Mumbai will need to improve their bowling performance early on while keeping runs at bay early on; beating KKR’s bowlers may prove challenging but Mumbai Indians possess enough quality batsmen and bowlers that they will provide stiff competition for them.
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