Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the 51st match of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Friday. It has been a forgettable season for MI as they have managed only three wins in 10 games and the playoff’s path looks difficult from here on.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders have won six out of their 10 matches and look set to confirm their last-four berth. KKR won their previous match against Delhi Capitals by seven wickets after they chased down 154 runs convincingly.
Varun Chakravarthy returned with impressive figures of 3-16 whereas Phil Salt scored an attacking knock of 68 runs against DC. It was a tacky wicket but conditions are expected to be opposite at the run-paradise in Wankhede. KKR’s top-order, especially their openers – Phil Salt and Sunil Narine – have done a fine job for the team and it will be crucial that they continue.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians would be disappointed with their batting show in the last game as they could only manage 144 runs against Lucknow Super Giants. MI top-order of Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav needs to come up with more consistent performances for the team.
Hardik Pandya also needs to lead from the front as his individual performances have been below par in the ongoing season.
Match Prediction: Kolkata Knight Riders will enter the contest as favorites against Mumbai Indians.
MI Squad: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Luke Wood, Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma, Luke Wood, Kwena Maphaka.
KKR Squad: Shreyas Iyer, Phil Salt, K.S. Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (AFG), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford (WI), Manish Pandey, Andre Russell (WI), Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine (WI), Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc (AUS), Dushmantha Chameera (SL), Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (AFG).
