Head to head
Last season: Mumbai Indians won both matches, by the same margin – six wickets – and with the same Man of the Match – Rohit Sharma
Overall: Mumbai have won 13 of the 18 matches
Mumbai will be buoyed by the arrival of T20 specialist Lasith Malinga, who warmed up for the IPL with a hat-trick against Bangladesh, although in a losing cause. His addition will strengthen an attack that took only three wickets and could not defend 184 against Rising Pune Supergiants in their opening game.
However, they will be without batsman Ambati Rayudu, who was stretchered off the field during the first game with a groin injury. Rayudu will be out for at least 10 days, according to Mumbai coach Mahela Jayawardene. Saurabh Tiwary could replace Rayudu.
Sri Lanka’s Asela Gunaratne also joined the Mumbai squad, although he will find it tougher to squeeze into the middle order that comprises notable names from both domestic and international cricket. Mumbai, however, might reassess their decision to leave out Harbhajan Singh, their most capped player, from the first game. He might help curb Chris Lynn’s aggression as the batsman strikes more easily against fast bowlers.
Kolkata Knight Riders received an international boost too – Shakib Al Hasan joined them after receiving the Man-of-the-Match award by top-scoring and taking three wickets against Sri Lanka. Knight Riders have already changed their prolific opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa from last season, by making Lynn open. But, moving from Rajkot to a smaller ground in Mumbai, will they want to play three spinners again? Umesh Yadav’s unavailability will make them look towards Ankit Rajpoot as a domestic pace option.
The likely XIs
Mumbai Indians: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Rohit Sharma (capt), 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya/Hardik Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan/Tim Southee, 11 Lasith Malinga
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Chris Lynn, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Piyush Chawla/Ankit Rajpoot, 11 Trent Boult
