Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Average score at venue: 164
Win percentage while batting first: 46.30%
Pitch Conditions:
- Winning the toss and batting first will be the priority for teams playing at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, since there is a perception that the pitch here tends to slow down in the second half of the matches.
- Fast bowlers have a bigger wicket-share percentage of 69.19% at Abu Dhabi, with spinners getting only 30.81% of the wickets in their favour. Indeed, even on the slow and turning wickets, fast bowlers continue to be a necessity.
Weather prediction:
It will remain bright and sunny throughout the day on Thursday in Abu Dhabi. The players from the two participating teams, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, will encounter an evening with clear skies and temperature being static at 35°C, with humidity levels ranging from 45-55%.
Head-to-head performance:
Matches played: 28
Mumbai Indians (MI) won: 22
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won: 6
Tied: –
Top 3 players from Mumbai Indians (MI): Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Saurabh Tiwary
Top 3 players from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each)
Top 5 players from Mumbai Indians (MI): Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult
Top 5 players from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana
Q&A:
Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
It is a contest in which one cannot determine a specific winner before the start of this match, which will be played on Thursday night. Mumbai Indians have had an ordinary run so far in the Indian T20 2021 tournament, with 4 victories and as many defeats in 8 matches so far keeping them at the fourth position in the points table. Mumbai Indians also have had a little bit of luck favouring them as despite mixed returns, they are placed fourth and have a Net Run Rate (NRR) in the negative of -0.071. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders have made a spectacular start to the second leg of Indian T20 2021 with a huge victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore, lifting themselves up to the sixth position in the points table with their NRR reading at 0.110. Adding more to the batting strength will certainly be the right way to go about in this fantasy XI contest.
From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
Both Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have not played up to their potential so far with all teams now going past the halfway stage in the league round. The most successful team in Indian T20 history are also perennial slow-starters in the tournament. Mumbai Indians are yet to attain their best with this year being no different. If Mumbai Indians are meant to go the distance in this Indian T20, this is when they must start winning matches on the trot and turning around the fortunes. On the other hand, the massive victory for KKR against RCB was certainly a shock result given how the Eoin Morgan-led side had performed until that game in Indian T20 2021. Either way, there are no favourites for this match but given that they have a better squad on-paper and have five title victories to show, Mumbai Indians should have more players featuring in a fantasy playing XI for this contest.
MORE INFORMATION:
Players’ form: It is likely that Mumbai Indians will be bolstered with the return of their regular captain Rohit Sharma, who did not play against Chennai Super Kings in the first match of the second leg of Indian T20 2021 a few days ago. Rohit’s return will certainly provide stability and direction to the Mumbai Indians team since it is time for them to shrug off the rust and get cracking in their bid to finish in the top four. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya will also be expected to fire along with Saurabh Tiwary, who scored a fine half-century against CSK the other night albeit in a losing cause. At the same time, KKR will be expected to draw a lot of confidence from their commanding victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in which they hardly put a foot wrong. Venkatesh Iyer played a crucial knock against RCB and so did Devdutt Padikkal, with both the young openers providing KKR a fresh lease of life when all the odds were stacked against them.
Changes in squad (if any): YES
LIKELY XIs:
Mumbai Indians (MI): Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan/Hardik Pandya, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Adam Milne, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Venkatesh Iyer, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, M Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy.
FANTASY XI:
Venkatesh Iyer, Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Andre Russell, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk)/Quinton de Kock (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy (vc), Rahul Chahar, Lockie Ferguson.
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Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders look to resurrect campaigns
Mumbai Indians will certainly draw a lot of confidence from overall record against Kolkata Knight Riders in their bilateral history, with the five-time title winners claiming victories in 22 matches out of 28 played so far against the two-time title winners, who have only 6 wins to show and are misfiring so far in this Indian T20.
Suryakumar Yadav starred with a half-century (56) and Rahul Chahar claimed 4 wickets earlier this year in April during the first meeting between these two teams in Indian T20 2021, which had Mumbai Indians record their fourth consecutive victory over KKR. Mumbai Indians won the first game against KKR by 10 runs in Indian T20 2021, with the Morgan-led side looking for revenge after a thumping victory over Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore a couple of nights ago.
KKR have generally been on the losing end against Mumbai Indians, but in the last four meetings, they have been comprehensively beaten and outplayed. Mumbai Indians have won the last four matches by 9 wickets, by 49 runs, by 8 wickets and then by 10 runs, thus stamping their authority over the two-time title winners.
Both Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have had their own share of struggles in this tournament, but if they are to finish in the top four, they have a lot of hard work left. Mumbai Indians are yet to have Rohit turning up in his peak form, despite the captain-batsman being the leading run-scorer for the side so far. The same can be said for Suryakumar, considered their backbone in the batting lineup.
Hardik Pandya did not play against CSK in the first match in the UAE, but the Indian all-rounder will be expected to hit the field soon given that there is very little time and opportunity left for him to attain form and rhythm ahead of the Cricket T20 World Cup 2021.
Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell set up a huge 9-wicket victory with the ball for KKR against Royal Challengers Bangalore a few nights ago, claiming 3 wickets each while M Prasidh Krishna and Lockie Ferguson also chipping in with crucial wickets. It was a huge achievement indeed, for KKR are without Pat Cummins in the second leg of Indian T20 2021, to have bowled out RCB for a small total of 92.
But what was equally impressive was the approach and intent shown by the young KKR opening pair of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer, who posted 48 and 41 not out respectively to deliver KKR a huge victory by 9 wickets with 10 overs to spare — something that would certainly bolster their NRR.
While KKR were absolutely dominant against Royal Challengers Bangalore, it remains to be seen if it was a one-off performance or if they finally have been able to banish their demons to get into the race for a place in the Indian T20 2021 knockout round.
