The Knights will lock horns with the Indians in Match 22 of the Indian Premier League 2023. KKR are coming after a loss in their previous encounter while MI finally got their first win against DC.
Overall, this has been a one-sided rivalry and the Indians have always dominated the Knights which is clearly visible from their head-to-head record where MI leads by 22-9. But the Knights have emerged victorious in their last three encounters against MI.
Team Preview
Mumbai Indians
Their season didn’t start well and their bowling seemed quite weak in absence of Jasprit Bumrah and now Archer is injured as well. But the other two overseas pacers Behrendorff and Meredith did well against DC which is a ray of hope for MI and their fans that they can still win matches and qualify in the absence of their two key pacers. Piyush Chawla has also been a great asset for MI. He has been economical in all three matches and also took 3 wickets against Delhi.
MI’s batting has been quite unstable. Only Tilak Verma has been a consistent batter. Their most explosive and dominant batter Sky hasn’t done anything so far this season. He really needs to step up and do what he has been doing for India in T20Is. However, Rohit stepped up and delivered in the last match which is a positive for the team.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Their batters look in great touch as KKR has made a 200+ total consistently in their last three matches. However, they lost their last match against the Sunrisers by chasing a humongous target of 229 where the Knights were 23 runs short. However, Andre Russell’s batting form is a major concern for KKR. He played a decent cameo against PBKS but since then his bat hasn’t spoken. His last three scores have been 0, 1 and 3.
Their bowling has been another big concern as KKR has leaked 204 and 228 runs respectively against GT and SRH. Their pacers are leaking a lot of runs in the powerplay and death overs. They really need to do better in upcoming matches as batters can’t cover up every time.
Probable Playing XI
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Ishan Kishan(WK), Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Riley Meredith/Tim David
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(WK), Narayan Jagdeesan, Nitish Rana(C), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarti, Suyash Sharma/Venkatesh Iyer
Pitch Report
The pitch here is more of batting-friendly and the red soil surface provides little to no help to the spinners. However, there is a good help for the pacers. But overall it’s a high-scoring pitch and anything below 180 would be easily changeable. The outfield is quick and the boundaries are short in dimensions, perfect for power hitting. It’s likely that we will see a high-scoring thriller.
Players to Watch Out For
Rohit Sharma
The hitman got back in action against the Capitals and played a brilliant knock of 65 runs off 45 balls and led his team to victory.
KKR are one of his favourite opponents in the IPL. He has scored 1020 runs against them with an average of 42.5 and a strike rate of 129.8. His role will be really crucial to get the Indians a power-packed start in this match.
Jason Behrendorff
In Archer’s absence, Behrendorff becomes the key pacer of MI. He performed well in the previous match and took the crucial wickets of Warner, Patel and Porel. Again, it’ll be his job to trouble the KKR batters who are in great form.
Nitish Rana
Be it captaincy or stabilizing the middle order, skipper Rana has performed both of these jobs really well in absence of Shreyas Iyer. Rana has been in really good form and played explosive knocks in his last two matches against GT and SRH. He has to continue a similar form against MI on Sunday to lead the Knights to another victory.
Umesh Yadav
Umesh has been in very poor form this season. He has conceded 110 runs in 12 overs and took only a single wicket. He was badly missing his length in the previous match against SRH and bowled a lot of full tosses. He really needs to make a comeback and there can’t be a better opportunity than this match as he has a great record at Wankhede. He has taken 15 wickets in 10 matches at this ground at an economy of 7.26.
Key Matchups
Rohit Sharma vs Sunil Narine: Runs – 141, Balls – 135, Dismissals – 8
Suryakumar Yadav vs Umesh Yadav: Runs – 21, Balls – 11, Dismissals – 2
Rohit Sharma vs Umesh Yadav: Runs – 144, Balls – 101, Dismissals – 5
MI vs KKR Dream11 Team
Note: This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
To remain updated and get our final Dream11 Team, Join our Telegram channel Clan For Gamers
