Categories: Sports

Match Preview – KKR vs MI 60th Match, IPL

Match details

Kolkata Knight Riders (1st; W8, L3) vs Mumbai Indians (9th; W4, L8)
Kolkata, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)

Big picture – KKR favourites against MI for a change

Do Mumbai Indians (MI) press the reset button and start preparing for IPL 2025? Or do they continue to field their best XI even though they have been eliminated from IPL 2024?

One thought is that it’s better to rest key India players like Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, especially with the T20 World Cup less than a month away. The other is that there is pride at stake, and there’s also a benefit in the World Cup-bound players facing tough opponents even if the team can’t make the top four.

One way or the other, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) shouldn’t care, not anymore.

MI have always been their bogey team with a lopsided win-loss record – it’s 23-10 to MI overall and 7-3 to them at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens – but since KKR’s first win in 12 years at MI’s Wankhede Stadium home last week, and KKR’s superior form this season, they will have the upper hand going into them game.

KKR are chasing a fourth win in a row and ninth overall this season, and if they move to 18 points, then they will formally have the “Q” next to their name. However, if they don’t, the two remaining league games away from home could feature some slightly nervous travellers. Ideally, they would like to firm up their place in the playoffs here and boost their chances of a top-two finish in what is their last home game.

Form guide

Kolkata Knight Riders WWWLW (last five completed games, most recent first)
Mumbai Indians WLLLL

Previous meeting

On May 3, KKR broke a 12-year jinx at Wankhede Stadium, when they recovered from 57 for 5 to beat MI by 24 runs. Venkatesh Iyer and impact player Manish Pandey dragged KKR to 169 before the spinners, Andre Russell and Mitchell Starc ran through MI.

Team news and Impact Player strategy

Kolkata Knight Riders
Why change a winning combination? KKR have been successful being ultra-aggressive with the bat, and the one day they didn’t – against MI – their bowlers bailed them out.

The only consideration could be whether the fit-again Nitish Rana should come in, possible in place of Angkrish Raghuvanshi. But will that be one left-hand batter too many, with Sunil Narine, Venkatesh and Rinku Singh also in the line-up?

Vaibhav Arora for a batter is the likeliest impact player swap.

Likely XII: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi/Nitish Rana, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 Rinku Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Harshit Rana, 12 Vaibhav Arora

Mumbai Indians
This is MI’s first game since their elimination was confirmed. There are no suggestions of big names being rested, but if Bumrah is, then Akash Madhwal is the likeliest replacement. Allrounder Anshul Kamboj should get another game despite conceding 10.5 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on debut. MI did not need an impact player in that game as they won comfortably, but Piyush Chawla or Shreyas Gopal for a batter is the likely swap if needed.

Likely XII: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Naman Dhir, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Tim David, 8 Nehal Wadhera, 9 Anshul Kamboj, 10 Jasprit Bumrah/Akash Madhwal, 11 Nuwan Thushara, 12 Piyush Chawla

In the spotlight – Mitchell Starc and Rohit Sharma

As the playoffs approach, KKR will hope Mitchell Starc, the winner of two ODI World Cups and one T20 World Cup, brings his elite tournament-winning mentality to the franchise. He has been KKR’s most expensive player – not only when it comes to the paycheque, but also in terms of economy rate (11.37) – but his experience has helped young bowlers like Harshit Rana and Arora, as they have said during IPL 2024. His 4 for 33 against MI last week was his first big performance, and if the best version of Starc turns up, KKR will have all their holes plugged.

Rohit Sharma, who will take one of two opening spots for India at the T20 World Cup, has scores of 36, 6, 8, 4, 11 and 4 since his century against Chennai Super Kings. If you take that century out, he has averaged only 20.45 in the other 11 games. The low average could be a factor in his new way of batting in the powerplay, and his strike rate of 152.77 reflects that, but five low scores in a row in a tournament where most of the other openers are feasting against the new ball is a concern.

Stats that matter

MI have lost nine of their last 13 away games (across 2023 and 2024), and have the lowest away win percentage (30.7) of all the teams in this period.
MI’s overseas players have the second-poorest bowling average (43.6) and economy rate (11.04) and the second-poorest batting average (21.1) in IPL 2024.
Rohit has been dismissed by Narine ten times in 25 T20s, averaging 18.7 and scoring at 107.5 against the spinner.
Narine has a batting strike rate of 117 between overs 1-3 in the powerplay, but it shoots up to 245 between overs 4-6. Should MI use Bumrah early against him? Bumrah bowled overs 2, 14, 18 and 20 the last time they met.

Pitch and conditions

Expect a batting-friendly surface, but rain this past week in Kolkata may make the outfield sluggish. More rain is expected on Saturday, so chances of a curtailed game or even a washout can’t be ruled out.

Quotes

“The intention is not to give a statement [to other teams] but play good cricket. Good cricket will always be rewarded. We don’t have any edge over Mumbai Indians, they are a champion side, and no way we can take them lightly.”
KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy doesn’t want to get complacent

Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx

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