All eyes will be on star batsman Rohit Sharma, who is set to return to action, for defending champions Mumbai Indians when they take on a rejuvenated Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2021 match in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Mumbai were without the services of Rohit and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya in their 20-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings on Sunday as both were rested as a precautionary measure due to having niggles. However, head coach Mahela Jayawardene has said Rohit should be fit and available for selection for the match against KKR. Kolkata, on the other hand, have registered a dominating nine-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening game of the second leg of the league. Mumbai, who are currently placed fourth in the table with eight points, began their second leg campaign in a typical slow manner but with only half the tournament left to play, the defending champions need to win to stay in the top half of the league table.
On the other hand, the comprehensive win would have boosted KKR’s confidence. Having struggled in the first leg, KKR looked a completely different unit, in the manner in which they defeated RCB. The Eoin Morgan-led side, placed sixth in the points table, fired on all cylinders with mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and star all-rounder Andre Russell wreaking havoc with the ball before openers Shubman Gill and debutant Venkatesh Iyer chased down the 93-run target with 10 overs to spare.
IPL 2021 Weather Forecast for MI vs KKR Match 34 in Abu Dhabi_Screenshot
TV Broadcast: Star Sports Network.
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar, JIOTV.
The Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch in Abu Dhabi will once again provide assistance for the bowlers. The last match between KKR-RCB showed how batting at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium witnessed some terrific bowling performances. The batters will need to show some patience before they start playing their shots. It’s a predominantly seamer-friendly surface, with the odd ball sticking in the wicket. Batting second should be a better option, especially if there’s some dew. The wicket is conducive for the bowlers, and we
Played- 28 | Kolkata won- 6 | Mumbai won- 22 | No Result- 0
Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell (VC), Venkatesh Iyer, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy.
Mumbai Indians: Quinton De Kock (WK), Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, and Prasidh Krishna.
Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Hardik Pandya, Anmolpreet Singh, Piyush Chawla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Aditya Tare, Chris Lynn, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jayant Yadav, Roosh Kalaria, James Neesham, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (Captain), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna, Harbhajan Singh, Shakib Al Hasan, Tim Southee, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sheldon Jackson, Sandeep Warrier, Tim Seifert, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Vaibhav Arora.
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