IPL 2017 Match 7 – Mumbai Indians Vs Kolkata Knight Riders – Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted XI
Apr 9, 2017 at 6:13 PM
The level of competition will be pretty much high when the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) meet Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 7th match of the IPL 10. The season opener was a cake walk for the KKR as opener Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn ransacked the Gujarat Lions to steer their team to a comfortable 10 wickets win.
Facing Mumbai Indians will be a different ball game. They may have lost their opening game and looked bit rusty. But, it’s their home game, they will be all prepared to get on the winning track and will have roaring crowd backing them. KKR must be on top of their game to have pleasant time under such circumstances.
Previous Encounters:
Kolkata Knight Riders last met Mumbai Indians in Mumbai on April 28, 2016, at the same venue. The match ended in a negative result for the Gautam Gambhir-led side as MI cruised to a simple 6 wickets win.
Recent Form:
Their recent form is great. The tournament has begun on a wonderful note for KKR with a win over Gujarat Lions. Beginning with a side note, the win against Gujarat Lions comes as a pleasant revenge, however as the same team had handed KKR a 6 wicket loss at Kanpur past season.
Speaking of their last five encounters, it is very underwhelming but will surely not be considerable as the fresh tournament has just begun and all the past fixtures belong to the 2016 edition. Out of the five matches they played, Kolkata Knight Riders has won only two out of them including the recent win over the Lions.
Win/Loss Record
LLWLW (Last five matches)
Talking Points:
The talking point ahead of the match will be Australian Chris Lynn. MI will be wary of his threat. He has already shown his intent and the hosts will need a full proof plan to counter him. In the same way, Lynn must be ready to face the Jasprit Bumrah and Co. Wankhede is a batting paradise.
Some of the recent games played at this venue have been high scoring ones. So, Lynn naturally will be happy to open the inning again. However, the MI pool of bowlers isn’t the same as the toothless attack of Gujarat Lions. Therefore, the right-handed mauler will have to up the ante this time.
The other talking point will be the bowling attack. Gambhir went in with three spinners in the last game. Will he do that again? Wankhede can be a nightmare spinners miss their mark and the likes of Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya get going at the same time. However, the three-spinner strategy can still work considering the quality those twirlymen have.
The seamers – Trent Boult and Chris Woakes – also had some issues finding their rhythm. The bowling attack will likely see some experiment. The in-form Umesh Yadav can be a better new ball option. He is quicker that Boult and can slip in yorkers at a better rate.
Woakes can also be swapped for the West Indies’s all-rounder Rovman Powell. Powell is a T20 product who shares a bit of similarity with Andre Russell unlike Woakes who quits the traditional formats better.
Predicted XI of Kolkata Knight Riders:
Gautam Gambhir (C), Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa (WK), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Surya Kumar Yadav, Chris Woakes/Rovman Powell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav