Five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have so far looked clueless in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. But Rohit Sharma & Co will cherish a meeting against their favaourite whipping boys Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in match 14 at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wednesday (April 6). The match starts at 7:30 PM IST.
IPL 2022 | Scorecard | Points Table | Schedule | Match Odds
The Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians, IPL match will be telecast live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1 HD. Fans can also stream the KKR vs MI clash live on Disney+ Hotstar.
Mumbai Indians, notorious for their their slow starts, are at it again. They lost to Delhi Capitals by four wickets then failed to chase down Rajasthan Royals' 193/8, losing the match by 23 runs. It's not all gloom and doom for the most-successful side in IPL yet. But MI need a good win before it's too late. And Kolkata Knight Riders present them that opportunity. They just love playing against the the team from Kolkata.
For KKR, a revenge outing against defending champions Chennai Super Kings eased new captain Shreyas Iyer into the job - a comfortable six-wicket win in the tournament opener. But the two-time champions faltered against Royal Challengers Bangalore by three wickets. It was followed by a big win against Punjab Kings. Iyer & Co looked confident.
TEAM NEWS
Kolkata Knight Riders: A very strong team with lots of match winners! Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Tim Southee, Nitish Rana and skipper Iyer will once again play crucial roles. But the biggest revelation in the fledgling campaign so far for KKR is Umesh Yadad. The pacer has done the job with the ball, and KKR will hope for another good outing from the 34-year-old.
Mumbai Indias: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Verma are already in the IPL mood, but Mumbai Indians will need others to step up if they are to beat a flambouyant team like KKR. Keiron Pollard looked out of touch in the last match; and in the absence of Suryakumar Yadav, MI can't afford to have a big player like him go missing.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is one of the most lopsided fixtures in the IPL. Mumbai Indians have defeated Kolkata Knight Riders 22 times in 29 previous meetings. MI have won four and lost one in their last five matches head-to-head matches. One of KKR's seven wins against MI came in the last season.
KEY STATS
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma need five boundaries to become the fifth batter in IPL to hit 500 fours. His 495 fours have come in 210 innings of 215 matches.
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer has scored 359 runs at an average of 32.63 and a strike rate of 117.32 in 14 innings against Mumbai Indians.
VENUE AND PITCH
The KKR vs MI match on Wednesday will the third fixture at MCA Stadium this season. In the first match at the venue, Rajasthan Royals scored 210/6, then restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 149/7 for a big win. In the second match, one of the IPL, debutants Gujarat Titans defended 171/6 against Delhi Capitals (157/9).
MCA pitch, as of now, looks like a tailor-made batting top. Expect another run feast. Their a caveat though. Both the matches played so far here witnessed pacers like Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Umran Malik T Natarajan, Lockie Ferguson, Mustafizur Rahman, etc having their say too.
LIKELY PLAYING XIs
KKR Likely XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk) Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy.
MI Likely XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Anmolpreet Singh, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Tim David, Daniel Sams, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Basil Thampi.
