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Curbing KKR's fiery batting a big challenge for MI at Wankhede

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Last updated on 02 May 2024 | 03:58 PM
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Curbing KKR's fiery batting a big challenge for MI at Wankhede

MI vs KKR, IPL 2024, Match 51 Preview: Venue, Probable XIs, Match Time, Streaming and Telecast details

The Indian Premier League (IPL) history between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Rides (KKR) is as one-sided as any sporting contest gets. Out of 32 games between the two sides, KKR have won only nine. That record gets incredulously abject when the purple team plays in the blue den. At the Wankhede, they have lost nine out of 10 games. 

However, KKR are a different beast this year. In fact, if you had asked some experts about who’s the David and who’s the Goliath in this contest, their answers would have been fixed. But not this season.

With six wins in nine games, Kolkata are in the second spot on the points table and are in supreme form. Meanwhile, MI are also second, but from the bottom. Their team have failed to show the edge and substance in their performance that we have come to expect from them. 

Hence, when the two sides meet at the Wankhede, MI’s bowling attack would be under immense pressure, going against KKR’s power-packed batting. It promises to be a cracking contest for this reason alone. Meanwhile, MI would also look to take the full toll on the KKR pacers, who have been expensive this season. 

MI vs KKR Head to Head 

Overall: Matches 32| MI 23| KKR 9

At Wankhede: Matches 10| MI 9| KKR 1

However, in the last five games, KKR have won three matches, with their last meeting in IPL 2023 being won by MI. 

Venue details and Weather Conditions 

Wankhede is again one of those grounds in this IPL where runs have rained like cats and dogs. The average first innings score here is 190, with the average winning score being 220!

Teams have always chosen to bowl first here, but the fact is that out of four games, teams batting first and second have won two games each. Pacers have dominated the Wankhede proceedings and taken 83% of the wickets, while the spinners have a better economy than the pacers. 

The temperature in Mumbai will remain between the high 20s and low 30s, with slightly pleasant weather in the evening during the game time. 

Things to watch out for 

Mumbai’s openers need to step up

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan gave decent starts to MI this season, with four 50+ partnerships. However, their inconsistency has led to MI losing its first wicket on a single-digit score four times, including the previous game. In fact, the pair has been broken in the first over of the innings thrice till now, which is the second most for any opening pair this season.

In the case of Rohit Sharma, he has suffered a drop in his performance in the last three games, where he has been dismissed on all three times for a single-digit score. This is after averaging 49.5 and striking at 164 in the first seven games. Spin has continued to trouble him, and KKR have three quality ones in Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Suyash Sharma that they can use against him.

While Kishan has been decent in the first six overs, averaging nearly 30 and striking at 156. But he hasn’t been able to get a move on in the middle overs and averages just 13 there. 

KKR’s fiery batting will love Wankhede

Many people might get the impression this season that the best batting side has been SRH, but it’s actually KKR batters who have wreaked havoc most consistently this IPL. 

The purple and gold batting unit have been scoring at 10.8 runs/over this season, which is the highest among all teams. The fact that they have the third-best average runs/wicket and fourth-best balls/wicket should tell you that not only are they scoring runs at a very high phase, but they are not getting out in haste as well. 

In fact, Kolkata have great scoring rates across all the phases of the game, and they have the best run rate in the middle and death overs. Their opening partnership of Narine and Phil Salt has given them a great platform right at the start so that they can keep going until the end with their long batting lineup. 

At the Wankhede, their batters would have a lot of fun. In fact, it is Shreyas Iyer’s home ground, and he recently scored a match-winning century for India there in the 2023 World Cup semifinal. 

Probable XIs 

KKR: Phil Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh (IP), Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana 

MI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Nehal Wadhera (IP), Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara 

Telecast details

The match will be shown on TV from 7:30 PM on Star Sports and streamed live on Jio Cinema.

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