Mumbai Indians have returned home after being on the road for over two weeks since they last played the El-Clasico against Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium. MI will welcome a red-hot Kolkata Knight Riders for the first of their two home games in a row.
The away fixtures, four in a row, for the five-time champions didn’t turn out the way they would have wanted them to be. They managed to win just one of those clashes are now desperate for a win to keep their playoffs chances alive.
KKR, on the other hand, are in fine form as they are comfortably sitting on the second position of the points table. It’s been quite a change in fortunes for the two-time champions from the previous seasons.
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With the playoffs race heating up, KKR would be eyeing to lock that spot as soon as possible whereas MI are just be focusing on reviving their campaign.
What: MI vs KKR, IPL 2024, Match 51
When: May 3 (Friday)
Where: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Start time: 7:30 PM IST
MI Team News
Hardik Pandya-led MI began their away leg with a win over Punjab Kings but afterwards, lost three consecutive games against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants.
They are at the ninth position on the points table with only six points in ten games, placing them above Royal Challengers Bengaluru just on the basis of a better net run-rate. Nothing is going in MI’s favor except for a few individual performances from the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Tim David.
A good news for MI is that history is on their side when it comes to KKR. They have a 71.8% win rate against this team and the last time KKR won a match against MI at Wankhede was way back in 2012.
MI would be heavily relying on a good opening stand between Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan. But Rohit already has a task cut out for him for the powerplay. Rohit doesn’t have a decent record against the left-arm seamers and KKR may look to exploit that weakness with Mitchell Starc early on.
MI Probable Playing XI vs KKR
Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee/Luke Wood, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara
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KKR Team News
KKR look like a well settled team who only need a few repairs here and there. Shreyas Iyer and team are on the second position in the IPL standings with 12 points and a healthy net run-rate to their name.
A major area of concern for the visiting team is their lead seamer and IPL history’s most expensive player – Starc who has been in a horrible form in this IPL so far. He has given away 330 runs in eight matches and has an economy of 11.79.
On the other hand, the biggest asset for them this season has been the veteran allrounder Sunil Narine.
Narine, who went back to the opening slot this season, has been smashing the bowlers all over the park with his carefree, brutal hitting.
Narine, who is primarily a bowler, has scored 372 runs in nine matches so far this season with an impressive strike rate of 165. With the ball in hand, he has already taken 11 wickets so far at an economy of just 6.86.
With Wankhede having a flat deck and shorter boundaries, Narine can be a serious threat to the home team and can easily take the match away from them in the powerplay itself.
KKR Probable Playing XI vs MI
Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Dushmantha Chameera/Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy/Suyash Sharma/Vaibhav Arora
MI vs KKR Pitch Report
Wankhede has always been a batting paradise where huge totals are sort of a norm. But they are also chased quite easily at times. The dew factor also plays a major role causing teams to prefer chasing.
In 113 IPL games at this venue, teams batting first have won 52 times, while chasing teams have won 61 times. With both the batting line-ups filled with big power hitters, expect a run-fest.
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