Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Mumbai Indians at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, in the 5th match of Indian Premier League 2020 on Wednesday, 23 September 2020.
Andre Russell versus Kieron Pollard. Eoin Morgan versus Hardik Pandya. Add to this mix, Dinesh Karthik, Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Sunil Narine. It's safe to say that we could be in for a six-fest. The bowlers from both the sides will have their task cut out. Which team do you think will hit maximum sixes in this game?
Mumbai looked rusty in its previous match. Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock looked good before throwing it away. The same can be said for Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya as well.
For some strange reason, Mumbai Indians continue to undervalue Kieron Pollard. They just do not send him up the order and allow him to bat as he can. His performance at number 6 is almost always curtailed due to a lack of available deliveries or batting partners.
The middle-order power in the Mumbai Indians is just as good as what KKR has, if not better.
Jasprit Bumrah was strangely out of touch in the previous match. He did not seem confident enough to try for his yorkers and ended up conceding a lot of runs. Trent Boult was easily the best bowler for Mumbai in the previous match. His ability to pick up early wickets is going to be crucial once more.
Mumbai picked James Pattinson for their opening match but we can easily see him being replaced by Mitchell McClenaghan or Nathan Coulter-Nile.
KKR were knocked out of playoffs contention in 2019 by MI. And they have a horrible head-to-head record against them. So, it will be interesting to see if that is on the minds of the KKR players who were involved in last season's disappointing campaign. However, there is plenty to be optimistic about.
KKR bring some interesting names to the stage. Andre Russell returns, as does Sunil Narine. While Russell's power-packed form was never in doubt, Narine's abilities with the bat at the top of the inning really surprised many. The addition of Eoin Morgan adds such great experience and dynamcy to the middle order, making for an irresistible top six. Of course, eyes will be on record purchase Pat Cummins on the impact he can make, as well as how well KKR perform at the death, with both bat and ball.
Its strength is its batting. We expect to see Shubman Gill open for the duration of this IPL 2020 season. He is a phenomenal talent but has not really had the kind of brilliant year that will see him press for a place in the Indian team. He will have Sunil Narine at the top if he is fit. Narine missed the last few CPL games and maybe rested just as a precautionary measure.
KKR has the option of picking Tom Banton in place of Narine or perhaps shifting Rahul Tripathi up the order to add another overseas bowler. We would personally like to see Banton in there but KKR's pace bowling is not the strongest. Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, and Andre Russell form a very strong middle-order. Morgan has been in brilliant six-hitting form while Russell had a productive CPL as well.
KKR's bowling attack is a bit on the weaker side. Pat Cummins was very expensive in England, Kuldeep Yadav had his worst year in IPL 2019 and had to be dropped, while the Indian pace contingent is inexperienced. Prasidh Krishna and maybe Shivam Mavi might get a game to start off with. This is where the addition of someone like Lockie Ferguson might be useful if Narine is not available.
Weather Report
Expect another hot day with temperature swinging between a high of 38 degrees Celsius and a low of 30 degrees Celsius. And it's going to be humid as well.
Pitch Report
Not a lot of cricket has been played on this ground of late but the 1st game of the Indian Premier League has showed that the pitches here will be good cricketing wickets with something in it for the batsmen and bowlers. The track at Abu Dhabi should slow down as the season progresses, but the covering of grass that it has right now should assist the pacers. The spinners will not get much turn but they won't be easy to put away as well.
Toss Prediction
The team winning the toss should opt to bowl first to extract the freshness of the wicket. Also, with around, the batting second will be much easier. The team batting first must eye a target of 180+ to get their opposition under pressure.
Stats and Facts
Head-to-head: Matches 25, KKR 6, MI 19.
MI have won nine of their past 10 matches against KKR.
Dinesh Karthik has an excellent record against Jasprit Bumrah in IPL: 23 deliveries, 50 runs, 0 dismissals.
Andre Russell has the highest IPL strike rate (186.41) for a batsman and clears the fence quite often. He was KKR's leading run-getter in IPL 2019 and hammered as many as 52 sixes in 14 matches.
MI have never won an IPL game in the UAE. They have lost six straight games, including vs KKR in 2014.
Approaching Milestones:
If he plays, this will be Kieron Pollard's 150th IPL game.
Rohit Sharma needs 90 runs to complete 5000 IPL runs.
Quinton de Kock and Andre Russell need 11 and 100 runs respectively to complete 1500 IPL runs.
Likely XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathi/Rinku Singh, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson/Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar/Jayant Yadav, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Players to Watch Out For:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Trent Boult
Match Odds:
Mumbai Indians: 1.72
Kolkata Knight Riders: 2.10
IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds
RCB - 5.5
MI - 5.5
CSK - 6
DC - 6.5
RR - 7.5
SRH - 7.5
KKR - 8
KXIP - 13
Match Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP
