Mumbai: Their play-off chances hanging in balance, Kolkata Knight Riders will keep no stone unturned as they take on Mumbai Indians with a prayer on their lips in a must-win Indian Premier League game on Sunday. KKR defeated Kings XI Punjab to keep their play-off hopes alive till the last league game but if Sunrisers Hyderabad manage to sneak past RCB on Saturday, it might take a Herculean effort in terms of improving the net run-rate. Placed fourth, SRH have a net run-rate of +0.653, which is comparatively better than fifth placed KKR’s +0.173. In case, SRH lose to RCB, it will be like a quarter-final for KKR as a win will do the job.
However MI would like to carry on the winning momentum as 18 points and a better net run-rate than both first placed Chennai Super Kings and third placed Delhi Capitals will give them two shots at qualifying for the final. With Chris Lynn and Shubhman Gill coming good and the marauding Andre Russell to follow at No 4, skipper Dinesh Karthik would fancy his chances at the batting-friendly Wankhede. Gill’s confidence would have boosted after his back-to-back half-centuries against Mumbai Indians (at home) and Kings Xi Punjab.
His unbeaten 65 off 49 balls steered KKR to a seven-wicket victory against KXIP in Mohali on Friday. If the likes of seasoned Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya and leggie Rahul Chahar have to be taken to task, then KKR batsman will have to put up a special show. Russell, who has been consistently delivering for his team, will have to showcase his prowess and mettle once again.
Teams (From)
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Ankul Roy, Evin Lewis, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ben Cutting, Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Jayant Yadav, Beuran Hendricks and Lasith Malinga.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (C), Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Nikhil Naik, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Nitish Rana, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Harry Gurney, Matt Kelly, KC Cariappa and Yarra Prithviraj.
Match starts at 8 PM. Live on Star Sports Select 1; 8pm
