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IPL2022 Match 56: Mumbai Indians Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Mumbai Indians are all set to take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in an interesting contest at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai today.
Both teams haven’t had the best of runs in the tournament so far, and KKR are on the verge of joining MI as the team to have lost the chances of making to the playoffs of IPL 2022.
Mumbai Indians have managed to win their last two games despite a disastrous start, and they will certainly look to finish the tournament on a high.
On the other hand, the Kolkata Knight Riders started off the tournament brightly, but since then, it has been a downward spiral for them with six losses in the last seven games.
With just four wins in 11 games, KKR do not have much time to reassess their plans, and they will need to bring their A game out soon.
Aaron Finch and Baba Indrajith’s combination at the top is not working, and they are likely to bring in Ajinkya Rahane and Sam Billings to provide stability.
With the possibility of qualifying for the playoffs out of the equation, there isn't a lot Mumbai Indians are playing for any longer in IPL 2022.
So what motivates the five-time champions now, with four more games to go?
"How we've set up the rest of the tournament is that we've got a mini IPL, the last six games - we've played two of them already, we're just judging ourselves on that," Daniel Sams, the MI all-rounder, confessed ahead of their next encounter against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Murugan Ashwin, Kumar Kartikeya, Jasprit Bumrah, Riley Meredith
Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Sam Billings (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi/Umesh Yadav
The Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai has been kind to the batters and the bowlers. Despite having some assistance from the pitch bowlers have found it tough to defend on the wicket. Hence, the captain winning the toss is likely to bowl first again with the results so far.
Suryakumar Yadav has been the best batter for the Mumbai Indians this season and he has been quite consistent as well. He was dismissed for just 13 in the previous game and he will be looking to make up for it with a big score. The right-hander has scored 303 runs in eight games for the Mumbai Indians this season and he will be key to the success of the franchise.
Murugan Ashwin came back into the playing XI for the Mumbai Indians and immediately had an impact with the ball. The leg-spinner was the pick of the bowlers picking up 2/29 in his four overs in the last game and helped his side immensely to pull off a dramatic last over win. He will be riding high on confidence and would be raring to deliver another impressive spell.
He had a rare failure this season in the last game as he was dismissed for just 6 runs against LSG. It was his first single-digit score for KKR. Iyer is the current leading run-scorer for the team with 330 runs in 11 matches at an average of 33.
He won the Player of the Match award in the last game as he hammered 44 runs off just 21 deliveries. Tim showed why he is rated as one of the best in franchise cricket over the world. Expect him to play a key role in this game as well.
He was the top performer for KKR in the last game with both the bat and the ball. He picked 2 wickets for 22 runs in 3 overs. With the bat, Russell made 45 runs off 19 deliveries before getting dismissed in the 13th over.
He didn’t pick a wicket in the last game, however, his last over was the reason MI could cross the line. He gave away just 3 runs in the final over and helped MI win the match by 5 runs.
In 6 matches, Tim Southee has picked 11 wickets at an average of 16.81, an economy of 7.7, and a strike rate of 13. He is likely to play a key role with the ball for KKR in this game as well.
He was the top performer for MI in the last game with the ball. He picked 2 important wickets of Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, who added 106 runs for the first wicket for GT. Ashwin gave away just 29 runs in 4 overs.
He was back to his original form in the last game as he scored 45 runs off 29 deliveries and added 74 runs for the first wicket with Rohit Sharma. You can back him up for another good performance in this game.