Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders in the 51st match of IPL 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday, May 3. This game will allow all the players on both teams to showcase their wares and come up with trumps against their much-vaunted opponents.
MI might feel that they have been hard done by this season, but their performances and efforts have not entirely reflected an opportunity to improve either. KKR, on the other hand, have been near the top end of the league table and are one of the favourites to vie for the title.
KKR have not enjoyed much success in the IPL ever since Gautam Gambhir’s days as their captain. Now that he is back in their dressing room as the mentor, things might turn around again. MI will feel they should make the most of the home conditions.
Predicted Squads
MI: Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah.
KKR: Philip Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Key Players
Suryakumar Yadav (MI): India’s 360-degree batter Suryakumar Yadav, known for playing shots all across the ground, is one of the players to watch out for in this game for MI. Yadav has been excellent for MI since he returned to the squad after his injury earlier this season.
Phil Salt (KKR): English opener-wicketkeeper Phil Salt has been excellent for KKR in most of their home games, and he needs to translate this form into away games as well. Once he gets going, it is incredibly challenging to stop Salt, and he would like to get a big score in this game.
Match Prediction
MI could have a better chance of winning this game by beating KKR. The latter have been on fire this season in the IPL and, as mentioned earlier, are one of the teams to beat. MI need to bowl extremely well to keep the power-packed KKR batting unit from expressing themselves freely.
