Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma share 4 IPL trophies between them and are two heavily armoured captains. Armoured, with years of experience, sweat, hard work and determination. Their outlook to captaincy could be a little different, but then at the end of the day, using success as a barometer of efficiency, it can be summed up that they have excelled tremendously at their respective tasks.
Both sides got off to start to which now they are familiar with in the IPL. Since the last 5 editions, the Mumbai Indians have lost their opening games while the Knight Riders, on the other hand, lost one in 2013 but won the remaining 4. In a tournament as long as the IPL though, a loss in a game or two can be easily neutralised with later on.
Having said that, Mumbai wouldn’t want to leave things to the last few games as things can even boil down to the net run rate. Post their close loss at Pune, Rohit Sharma is back at his den in Mumbai and the hosts will look to replicate the success of 2013, where they carried a cent percent win record at home.
PREVIOUS ENCOUNTER:
Both games between these powerhouses in the previous edition yielded a similar pattern and outcome. On both occasions, the Knight Riders put up a decent total on board, which was made to look ridiculously minute thanks to the ever charming grace and class of Rohit Sharma at the top.
Their latest clash was witnessed at Mumbai on April 28th last year when the hosts scaled down the target of 175 with 2 overs to spare. Apart from Rohit Sharma’s fluent half-century, Kieron Pollard lit things up with a 17 ball unbeaten knock of 51.
Recent form this season:
MI: L
KKR: W
Talking Points:
The decision to bench Harbhajan Singh in the previous game at Pune was a fatal mistake as the veteran was dearly missed. The inexperienced Krunal Pandya being the sole spinner was taken to the cleaners by Steven Smith and Bhajji was terribly missed. If wiser sense is to prevail, the off-spinner should be on his way back into the XI.
A massive sigh of relief for the Mumbai-based outfit would be the availability of their most successful bowler – Lasith Malinga. With Malinga in the scheme of things, Mumbai’s worries about the death overs go down colossally.
MI Predicted XI:
- J. Buttler 2. P. Patel (wk) 3. R. Sharma (c) 4. A. Rayudu 5. K. Pandya 6. K. Pollard 7. H. Pandya 8. H. Singh 9. L. Malinga 10. M. McLenaghan 11. J. Bumrah