IPL 2021 : KKR V MI & Predicted Playing XIs

KKR V MI  – HEAD TO HEAD : 27 MATCHES

KKR WON : 6, MI WON : 21

Mumbai Indians began their campaign with yet another loss in the opening fixture of the tournament.  They’ve lost all of their opening fixtures since 2013 and this time was no different. They face Kolkata Knight Riders in their second game and they will be quite happy given their record against them. In the last 10 fixtures between both the teams, MI have been victorious on 9 occasions.

Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, managed to win their first game against a top quality SRH side. They seem to have solved their top order conundrum which was a big worry for them last season. They have a dangerous middle order consisting of Morgan, Dre Russ and Karthik. KKR would want want all of them to fire in unison to stand a chance against the defending champions.

MI’s defeat against RCB shouldn’t force too many changes. De Kock is out of quarantine and is available for selection. He’s likely to replace Chris Lynn at the top. Apart from this, they are unlikely to make any changes. Although there might be a temptation to bring in an off spinner in Jayant Yadav given the number of left-handers in the opposition.

Rohit has scored most number of runs against KKR (939 runs) and they would want to get rid of him as early as possible. If we talk about matchups then Rohit’s numbers against Narine are quite underwhelming. Rohit scores at a strike rate of just 108 against him and has got out to him six times. It would be interesting to see if Captain Morgan decides to go with Narine given his success against MI’s captain.

Another exciting battle that awaits us is Dre Russ V Bumrah. It’s a no brainer that Rohit will bring Bumrah into the attack as soon as Russell comes to bat. The Pacer has got the better of the hard-hitting batsman 3 times and has kept him at bay.

Both the teams look equally good on paper. MI would be eager to get their first points of the season and KKR would look to better their record against them.

Probable XIs :

KKR : Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (C), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Shakib al Hasan, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy.

MI :  Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar/Jayant Yadav, Marco Jansen, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah