The five-time champions return home in Mumbai with a much-needed win under their belt, set to take on a side they've historically nailed the contest against.
Finally getting on board last game, the Mumbai Indias (MI) stand rejuvenated before their next league stage encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Sunday (April 15) against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Feeling buoyed by the result over the Delhi Capitals (DC), Rohit Sharma & company will take confidence and momentum into the clash with the two-time champions at their den the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. KKR being their bogey team over the years, the most successful IPL franchise would know this is a great opportunity for them to stay put on the winning ways.
KKR would also be reeling from their high-scoring loss against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday (April 14) as they stand fifth in the points table now with two wins and as many defeats. Despite their Delhi triumph, MI are placed ninth at the moment, with a solitary victory after two straight losses to begin the tournament.
MI would be delighted with the win over DC, especially as their captain showcased signs of returning to very best with an impressive half-century. They’ll be concerned by the dip in form that Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav continue to undergo, but if Rohit gets going again, the two key players would find some much-needed breathing space while Cameron Green and Tim David also rally on their strong finish from the last game.
The bowling unit hasn’t always been able to plug the Jasprit Bumrah hole or make up for the absence of Jofra Archer, but the form on display by Jason Behrendorff and Piyush Chawla augurs well for them against a KKR batting line-up that runs deep. They are likely to go unchanged for this fixture.
Despite making 205/7 of their own in the second half, KKR lost the match to SRH by a healthy margin of 23 runs. The high-scoring fixture vindicated their explosive depth with the bat but also exposed their soft underbelly with the ball. They seemingly have no bankable bowling option other than mystery spinner Sunil Narine.
That becomes a dangerous scenario to manage for skipper Nitish Rana and coach Chandrakant Pandit, and the KKR batting line-up that might have to accept fate and practice to achieve scores well above par for the conditions. That would be especially be key at a big-scoring venue like Wankhede.
MI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Riley Meredith, Arshad Khan, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff
KKR: Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, David Wiese, Mandeep Singh, Tim Southee, Jason Roy, Litton Das, Kulwant Khejroliya, Harshit Rana
MI hold the key with this one. The five-time champions have had a historic edge over KKR and are coming on the back of an important win in their last match. Not only did MI show good allround strength in keeping the Delhi side at bay but also some strong temperament in holding the nerves through a final-ball thriller.
It’s a value KKR displayed in abundance themselves in the last two matches which they managed to take it to the last over. However, the fact that they required a hopeless equation each time and miracle performance from Rinku Singh to fetch one of them, only exposed the side’s vulnerabilities and weaker spots.
MI have a perfect opportunity to exploit those weak links in their home terrains in Mumbai. They also enjoy a terrific historic record over KKR, which shall give them the edge as well.
