The 60th match of the tournament between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI). The match between them will start at 7:30 P.M. (IST).
In their previous encounter against each other, the match was comparatively low scoring since as the nature of Wankhede is mostly useful for high scoring still Kolkata restricted Mumbai and defended the target successfully.
Teams Analysis:
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
They are on the brink to make their place into the playoffs as they are just one win away to secure their place. They are currently at the top in the points table with 16 points in 11 matches where they won 8 and lost 3. Their net run rate is +1.453, which is the best in the points table. Their batting was fantastic throughout this season and their bowling was a little weak but they overcame this challenge and bowled pretty well in the last few matches.
Sunil Nairne is the MVP of the team as he is constantly contributing in both batting and bowling. With 461 runs he is currently in the 5th place in the orange cap list and with 14 wickets he is in the 8th place in the purple cap. His strike rate with the bat is 183.67 and has hit one century and 3 half-centuries to his name. In his bowling he mostly bowled economical spells with 6.61 economy. His one sided domination makes KKR strong in both the departments.
Phil Salt, the other opener is not much behind and has scored 429 runs with a strike rate of 183.33. He scored four 50+ knocks and the best came against LSG where he scored 89 runs. Both of them provided a destructive start to the team and is currently the best opening partnership going in this season in comparison to other teams.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer also played some valuable knocks and has 280 runs to his name with a strike rate of 138.61. He has one half-century to his name and that came against RCB where he scored 50 runs. Venkatesh Iyer has maintained some stability in the middle order with 225 runs in 10 innings. He has two fifties to his name and the best was against MI where he scored a brilliant 70 runs and took his team to a respectable total.
Andre Russell is highly aggressive as his strike rate is 186.79 and has scored 198 runs till now which includes one half-century. Not only this he added valuable contribution in the bowling and has taken 13 wickets till now. Ramandeep Singh has a strike rate of 200 and his hard hitting in the death overs added valuable runs in the end.
Varun Chakaravarthy is the team’s leading wicket-taker with 16 wickets to his name. In the purple cap list he stands in 3rd place. At the start of the season he was a little expensive but as the season went by, his economy improved and is currently 8.75 economy. In the last three matches he has taken 8 wickets.
Highest paid player in the history of IPL, Mitchell Starc has taken 12 wickets till now with an economy of 11.38. But his best performance in this season came against Mumbai Indians where he took 4 wickets in his 3.5 overs by giving away 33 runs. Harshit Rana also showed his fierce bowling in the place department with 14 wickets to his name and his economy also improved and got below 10 (9.56).
Probable playing 11 for the match:
Shreyas Iyer ©, Sunil Narine, Phil Salt (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.
(Impact Player: Vaibhav Arora)
Mumbai Indians (MI):
They became the first team to get eliminated from the playoffs. With 8 points they are currently in the 8th place in 12 matches where they won 4 and lost 8. Except for Bumrah and Suryakumar, none of the other players are showing consistency in their performance which is the main lacking in the team combination. They have huge names in their squad but their performance is not up to the mark.
Rohit Sharma started the season with some good scores but in the last five knocks he touched double digit only once and has managed only 6, 8, 4, 11 and 4. His string of low scores is continuing but is desperate to make a strong comeback and he likes to play in the Eden Gardens which might make some advantage for him.
Ishan Kishan is also struggling with his form and has only scored 266 runs in 12 matches. He only managed one half-century which came against RCB where he scored 69 runs. Tilak Varma is mostly consistent with the bat and is currently the highest scorer from Mumbai this season. In 12 innings he scored 384 runs in which he hit 3 half-centuries. His strike rate is 147.13.
Suryakumar Yadav scored a fantastic century against SRH in the last match where he scored 102 runs and took his team to a great win. With 176.72 strike rate he scored 334 runs and hit one century and 3 half-centuries till now. He is mostly consistent with his batting.
Skipper Hardik Pandya is yet to prove himself in his batting but with the bowl he looked a little better from before as in the last three matches he took 7 wickets. With the bat he only has 198 runs to his name and didn’t score a 50+ knock till now. Tim David on the other hand has 241 runs to his name with some hard hits in the death over. He has a strike rate of 161.74.
Jasprit Bumrah has been ferrous with his bowling as he took 18 wickets till now and is 2nd in the list of purple caps. Batters find it hard to play against him which can be easily depicted by his economy which is 6.21. Gerald Coetzee also supported him from the other end with 13 wickets to his name but is mostly expensive in his spells and as result his economy surges to 10.18.
Experienced spinner Piyush Chawla has only 8 wickets to his name in 9 innings.
Probably playing 11 for the Match:
Hardik Pandya ©, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara.
(Impact Player: Naman Dhir)
Head to Head (KKR vs MI):
They played 33 matches against each other.
| KKR | MI | |
| won | 10 | 23 |
| Highest score | 232 | 210 |
| Lowest score | 67 | 108 |
Pitch Report:
The match will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. A highly suitable pitch for batting. Out of 6 matches that were played here 4 has scored 200+ in both the innings and also the highest chasing record in T20 cricket was made here. Therefore chasing must be a better option here. Also it will be the last match for Kolkata in this season.
Weather Report:
The full match to be played is in doubt as there is a 60% chance of raining on the match day. Therefore DRS might be taken in this match. Thunderstorms will be seen easily. Humidity will also be high which is expected to be above 80%. The temperature will touch 31 degree celsius during the daytime and will have 26 degree celsius during night.
Best 11 for the Match:
Phil Salt, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Sunil Narine ©, Andre Russell, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana.