After qualifying for the playoffs of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Mumbai Indians (MI) will be hosting Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who are still in contention to be qualified for the playoffs. With Rohit Sharma leading the Mumbai based franchise, MI will be looking to enter the top-2 rankings by defeating KKR.
On the other hand, KKR, who started the season with four wins in the first five games, lost the plot after that as some of the crucial players like Dinesh Karthik and Chris Lynn failed to perform as per the expectations. With only a minor chance of them making it to the playoffs, Kolkata has to win the game as their qualification will also depend on the RCB and SRh game.
ALSO READ: Match 56 (MI vs KKR): Probable Fantasy XI
Let us, try and churn out the best possible XIs of both the teams in the game:
Mumbai Indians (MI)
In the last two games, Barinder Sran and Evin Lewis have failed dramatically for Mumbai. The hosts have the likes of Ishan Kishan and Beuran Hendricks (hasn’t played this season at all) warming the bench, but the chances of Rohit tinkering with the playing XI – especially after having a winning momentum are low.
Probable XI: Quinton de Kock(wk), Rohit Sharma(c), Evin Lewis/Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Barinder Sran/Beuran Hendricks, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Every batsman in the top five made significant contributions in Kolkata’s win against KXIP. However, their bowling as more often than not let them down in this season. Harry Gurney leaked 22 runs off the final over against KXIP, but Karthik might not be looking to make the changes in the winning combination. One change that KKR can consider is bringing in Kuldeep Yadav in place of Piyush Chawla as the latter has been very expensive in his last two outings.
Probable XI: Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wk & c), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav/Piyush Chawla, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney
