Robin Uthappa had a rare failure against Kings XI Punjab
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Match Preview: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians - IPL 2017
Match details
May 13, 2017, 08:00pm local time (02:30pm GMT)
Kolkata Knight Riders will be desperately hoping to seal a top two position when they take on Mumbai Indians in their final league stage encounter at Eden Gardens on Saturday.
With 16 points from 13 games and a superior run-rate, Kolkata have more or less made it to the play-off but a win on Saturday will ensure them a place in the Qualifier 1 which means they will have two shots in making to the final. Even a defeat here can still help them claim the second position, provided Rising Pune Supergiant and Sunrisers Hyderabad lose their final games.
The return of Chris Lynn has certainly boosted the side as seen in his two knocks of 84 and 50. His partnership with Sunil Narine at the top has produced productive powerplays while Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa had rare failures in their previous game against Punjab. Chris Woakes will be available one final time before he heads to England as in the case of Jos Buttler while Nathan Coulter-Nile and Suryakumar Yadav are uncertain for the game after sustaining injuries.
Mumbai on the other hand will be hoping to gather momentum which was dented with defeats in last two games. However, they can take a lot of confidence from the fact that they almost pulled out the highest chase in the history of IPL against Punjab. Lendl Simmons has perfectly adapted to the role which Buttler excelled while Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya back the punch in the death overs with brutal hitting.
The visitors will be concerned about the dip in form of Nitish Rana and also Lasith Malinga, who has struggled throughout the tournament prompting the team management to consider bringing Mitchell Johnson back into the frame. It will be interesting to see if they opt for Krunal Pandya or give him some more time to regain full fitness ahead of the all important play-off.
Recent Form:
KKR - LWLLW
MI - LLWWW
Likely XI's
Expect both the teams to go unchanged from their previous games.
KKR - 1. Sunil Narine, 2. Chris Lynn, 3. Gautam Gambhir (captain), 4. Robin Uthappa (wk), 5. Manish Pandey, 6. Yusuf Pathan, 7. Colin de Grandhomme, 8. Chris Woakes, 9. Kuldeep Yadav, 10. Umesh Yadav, 11. Ankit Rajpoot
MI - 1. Lendl Simmons, 2. Parthiv Patel (wk), 3. Nitish Rana, 4. Rohit Sharma (wk), 5. Kieron Pollard, 6. Hardik Pandya, 7. Karn Sharma, 8. Harbhajan Singh, 9. Mitchell McClenaghan, 10. Jasprit Bumrah, 11. Lasith Malinga / Mitchell Johnson
© Cricket World 2017
