What

The Mumbai Indians will have an opportunity to climb to the perch of the VIVO IPL 2019 standings when they take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 47. On the eve of the match, MI were placed second in the eight-team table with 14 points from 11 matches, while KKR are in the bottom half with eight points from 11 outings.

MI are getting better and gaining momentum and confidence with every passing match and are on the brink of securing a playoff berth. KKR’s season has turned upside down in a matter of weeks. The Knight Riders were table-toppers after their win over the Rajasthan Royals on April 7; since then though, they’ve lost six matches in a row and now face a situation where they can ill afford another loss.

Given their recent form, there must surely be some discussions in the MI camp about shifting the goalpost; while the initial goal would be to secure a playoff spot, with that target in sight, MI will now start aiming for a finish in the top two.

For KKR, there must be huge concerns regarding the form of their bowlers; their spinners have been rendered ineffective with the green surfaces handed to them on their home ground, and their quicks have shown little application. Unfortunately for KKR, they do not have too many options available to explore; the two unused pace options available for the Knight Riders are Sandeep Warrier and Matt Kelly. This is pretty much the last throw of the dice, and the KKR management must surely be considering bringing one of them into the XI.

When

28 April 2019, 8pm IST

Where

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Previous Match XIs:

Kolkata Knight Riders:Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Rinku Singh, Y Prithviraj, Piyush Chawla, Prasidh Krishna.

Mumbai Indians:Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, Anukul Roy, Rahul Chahar, Lasith Malinga, JaspritBumrah.

Protagonists

On the batting front, KKR will want the senior pros – Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell – to shoulder the burden of scoring the bulk of the runs. Captain Karthik announced his return to form in the previous match with a well-compiled 97 not out – the highest score ever by a KKR captain; it is important for Karthik personally, for KKR as a team and for Indian cricket that he builds on that knock and scores runs consistently.

The Mumbai Indians too will be relieved that their captain finally got a half-century; it wasn’t that Rohit Sharma was struggling for form, but he was not all that convincing and repeatedly failed to convert starts in the earlier matches. But in the match in Chennai on Friday night, Rohit applied himself well and made 67 extremely valuable runs for his team.

Among others, look out for the powerful finishers on both sides; if KKR boast of Nitish Rana and Andre Russell, MI have Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard to match.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 23,Kolkata Knight Riders – 5, Mumbai Indians – 18.

Since 2015: Matches – 23, Kolkata Knight Riders – 1, Mumbai Indians – 8.

Remaining Fixtures:

For Kolkata Knight Riders: 3 May - v Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, 5 May – v Mumbai Indians in Mumbai.

For Mumbai Indians:2 May – v Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai, 5 May – v Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.