Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPLT20, Today Match Prediction

MI vs KKR Match Prediction & Analysis

Since the inaugural season of IPL in 2008, Mumbai Indians have completely outplayed Kolkata Knight Riders, winning 23 encounters and losing just 9.

However, to Kolkata Knight Riders credit, 3 of their 9 wins have come in the past 5 matches, which clearly indicates that the visitors have clearly had the upper hand in the recent encounters. Looking at the current standings of the two teams on the points table,

it appears that Kolkata Knight Riders, sitting pretty on the table in the second position only after table-topper Rajasthan Royals, is likely to boss the under-fire Mumbai Indians team, who are languishing in the bottom half of the table. Kolkata Knight Riders have found ways to innovate, with Sunil Narine opening the batting, and it has worked for the most part. However, Mumbai Indians experiments have backfired, starting with the captaincy change.

And the mood in the camp is not great either. If both teams play to potential, we are in for a great contest.

MI vs KKR Betting News

TEAMS PREVIEW

Mumbai Indians Preview

Besieged by plenty of issues on and off the field, Mumbai Indians campaign never quite took off this season.

With just four matches to go, they’re staring at a possibility where winning the remainder of the matches can’t guarantee a place in the play-offs. And that’s a terrible result for the gun side, which has won the championship five times. For the talent pool and the backroom staff they have at their disposal this season, they need to be in a much better position at the moment. But games are won on the field, not off it.

Only Jasprit Bumrah with the ball and Tilak Varma with the bat have impressed this season. And the rest of the players have had an awful season, particularly under-fire captain Hardik Pandya, who has barely created any impact in bowling or batting.

Opposition teams are more than happy to see off Bumrah’s four overs, and take the attack to the rest of the bowling group, and for some reason, the Mumbai camp hasn’t been able to solve this problem. Similarly, indifferent form with the bat and a few ordinary decisions as to sending players up or down the order have cost MI many games.

This game against KKR will be massive for MI if they want to finish on a high and salvage some pride.

Mumbai Indians Predicted Playing XI:

Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah. Impact Sub: Nuwan Thushara.

Mumbai Indians Actual Playing XI:

Nehal Wadhera, Suryakumar Yadav, Nuwan Thushara, Ishan Kishan, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Timothy David, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah

Kolkata Knight Riders Preview

Kolkata Knight Riders made several moves pre-season but nothing compares to the gamble they took in sending Narine up the order as an opener. It has unlocked a whole new dimension of the veteran who recently played his 500th T20 of his career. And, from the team's perspective, it helped KKR solve the longstanding opener problem that bothered them for several seasons.

Phil Salt ( 392 runs from 9 games) and Sunil Narine (372 runs from as many games) have been extremely effective this season, accumulating runs at a healthy average and at a good clip. When one fails, the other takes over. And they make sure whoever survives until after the powerplay continues to bat on to get their team to a strong position.

Captain Shreyas is having a decent outing with the bat, however they’ve a lot to improve on when it comes to finishing games. Rinku Singh is having a lean run, and is not able to provide a flourishing finish like he did last season.

With the ball, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy have been the wicket-takers for KKR this season. These bowlers have picked up 11 wickets apiece, while Andre Russell has somewhat made up for his poor run with the bat with 9 wickets from 9 games so far in the competition.

Mitchell Starc is still searching for form and consistency, and will be hoping to get better with each game so he can bowl at his best whenever the playoffs come around.

Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted Playing XI:

Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh , Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy. Impact Sub: Angkrish Raghuvanshi.

Kolkata Knight Riders Actual Playing XI:

Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Philip Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakravarthy

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

With the summer upon us, dew will play its part if the conditions get a little dewy in the second innings. Spinners might find it a bit difficult gripping the ball if its wet, and may go for runs. Except for the first match where MI surrendered to Royals with a paltry 125/9, the surface at the venue has proved to be favourable for batting in the other occasions.

MI vs KKR Pitch Report

This match will be played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Mumbai Indians have won two games and lost as many here in this year’s IPL so far. With 1 win and 9 losses in 10 games, Kolkata Knight Riders count Wankhede as one of the unlucky venues in the IPL for them.

Toss: To Bowl

Toss doesn’t determine which way the match will go, but chasing at a venue with short boundaries and blazing outfield is always a no-brainer especially if batting is your strength, so we expect the toss-winning team to send the opposition in to bat.