IPL 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians – Preview, Predicted XIs, Head-to-Head, Live Streaming and Match Prediction
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Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders are all set to take on Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians in the fifth game of the Vivo IPL 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 13th April. Riders started their campaign with a comfortable victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad. On the other hand, Mumbai’s love story with losing first matches is better than Twilight. They were defeated by Royal Challengers Bangalore in a last-ball thriller.
IPL 2021 Match 5 KKR vs MI: Preview
Kolkata Knight Riders
The men in purple played exceptionally well in their opening game against the orange army. Batting first, Nitish Rana gave a perfect start to the Knight Riders as he played the role of enforcer alongside his comrade Shubman Gill. Rana smashed the first ball he faced for a boundary and there was no stopping for him after that. With Tripathi coming at No.3, Kolkata took the game away completely from the hands of Sunrisers as Rana and Tripathi blazed out all guns against every bowler and brought up their fifties. Dinesh Karthik added cherry on top at the end as he finished the innings with his quickfire knock.
Kolkata would look to continue the aggressive brand of cricket brought in by the England Skipper Morgan. The approach has worked for England over a few years and there are hopes it would work wonders for Kolkata too. Nitish Rana has an odd consistency record in his last six games with alternate 80s and golden ducks in that. He would not want to continue that today. The only concern for the Riders is the form of Morgan and Russell. If they bat like the way they are known for, Kolkata can get 20-30 runs extra on the board.
On the bowling front, Harbhajan Singh who played a professional match after 699 days got only one over as the Hyderabad team had a single left-hander only in their batting. But, seeing the line-up of Mumbai Indians, he is expected to bowl a few more today. Shakib who also made his comeback in the KKR colors got a wicket off the first ball and bowled decently throughout. Prasidh Krishna, Andre Russell, and Pat Cummins bowled brilliant line and length to contain the batters and restricted them 10 runs short of the target.
KKR would love to continue playing the same way and hope to make their record better against Mumbai. They have won only six games out of 27 against MI.
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians’ love affair with losing the opening games continues this season too. They have not won their first match in the IPL since 2012. But, they are known for the comebacks they make after that. Mumbai lost Rohit early in the innings due to an unfortunate mix-up with Chris Lynn who might not play today as Quinton De Kock is now out of quarantine and available to play. Lynn played a crucial knock of 49 runs alongside Surya Kumar Yadav. Just when Mumbai was cruising towards a total of around 180, Harshal Patel came out of nowhere and grabbed a five-wicket haul to restrict them to a below-par 159.
Mumbai’s bowlers bowled pretty good lines and took wickets at regular intervals. But an onslaught by Ab De Villiers at the end guided RCB to a last-ball victory. Marco Jansen was the pick of the bowlers who was playing his debut match in the IPL. Bumrah and he got two wickets each.
With De Cock now out of quarantine, he will most probably replace Chris Lynn at the top. Piyush Chawla might also make his debut for Mumbai Indians as Rahul Chahar went for plenty in the last game. Overall, it was a decent game for Mumbai just a below-par death overs batting cost them the match.
They would eye to make a comeback as Rohit said in the post-match that winning titles is more important than winning the first game. An exciting contest awaits at Chepauk between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.
IPL 2021 Match 4 KKR vs MI: Match Details
- Match: Kolkata Knight Rider vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 2021- Match 5
- Date and Time: 13th April, 7:30 pm IST
- Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
- The match between Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians will be streamed live on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar VIP.
Weather Report
The weather at Chennai is expected to be clear without any chances of precipitation. The temperature may fluctuate between 30-35 Degrees Celsius.
Pitch Report
The pitch at MA Chidambaram Stadium generally supports the spinners but the last two games saw that majority of the wickets were grabbed by pacers. Slower balls have done the trick for them.
The team winning the toss would opt to bowl first, keeping the dew in mind.
Predicted Playing XI
Kolkata Knight Riders are likely to go with the same XI that played for during their first game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. While Quinton De Kock might come in for Chris Lynn and Piyush Chawla might replace Rahul Chahar for the Mumbai Indians.
Kolkata Knight Riders
- Shubman Gill
- Nitish Rana
- Rahul Tripathi
- Eoin Morgan
- Dinesh Karthik
- Andre Russell
- Shakib Al Hasan
- Pat Cummins
- Harbhajan Singh
- Varun Chakravarthy
- Prasidh Krishna
Mumbai Indians
- Rohit Sharma
- Quinton De Cock
- Surya Kumar Yadav
- Ishan Kishan
- Hardik Pandya
- Keiron Pollard
- Krunal Pandya
- Piyush Chawla
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Marco Jansen
- Trent Boult
IPL 2021: KKR vs MI : Head-to-head and Match Prediction
Head to Head (Last 5 matches)
- Mumbai won by 49 runs
- Mumbai won by 8 wickets
- Kolkata won by 34 runs
- Mumbai won by 9 wickets
- Mumbai won by 13 runs
IPL 2021: KKR vs MI Match Prediction
Mumbai Indians despite losing their opening game start as favorites to win this match against Kolkata Knight Riders seeing their earlier record against them and the strength in their line-up.
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Mohamed Azhar
(370 Articles Published)