The Cricketer takes a look at the next fixture in the 2022 Indian Premier League season
Kolkata Knight Riders take on Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
The game will be played on Wednesday, April 6. The first ball will be bowled at 7.30pm local time (3pm GMT).
The game will be held at Maharashtra Stadium in Pune.
Kolkata Knight Riders have had a mixed start to this year’s IPL. They have won two out of three games but were beaten convincingly by Royal Challengers Bangalore in their second game.
They are also yet to pass 150 in any of their games, although Andre Russell showed they have batting potential with a brutal 70 from 31 balls against Punjab Kings.
KKR have been excellent with the ball so far, Sunil Narine and Umesh Yadav have both kept economies of less than five an over so far.
Mumbai Indians are yet to win a game, but have put in two solid batting performances.They failed to defend 177 against the Delhi Capitals, partly due to star bowler Jasprit Bumrah going for 43 in 3.2 overs, and fell 23 runs short chasing 193 against Rajasthan Royals.
Umesh Yadav
Yadav has been on fire for KKR, taking eight wickets so far at an average of seven. He’s been well supported by Narine and Tim Southee, but Yadav’s wickets and control will be key to restricting Mumbai Indians, especially seeing that Kolkata have only managed one fifty so far.
Trying to blunt a way through will be the highly rated Ishan Kishan. He’s scored 135 runs in his two innings so far for Mumbai, including 81 not out from 48 balls against Delhi Capitals. Getting Kishan early will be vital for KKR given their misfiring batters.
Matches played: 29
Kolkata Knight Riders wins: 7
Mumbai Indians wins: 22
It will be a very hot day in Pune tomorrow, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius during the day but falling closer to 30 degrees Celsius for the evening start.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Aaron Finch, Tim Southee, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Basil Thampi, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, N Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, Jofra Archer, Daniel Sams, Tymal Mills, Tim David, Riley Meredith, Mohammad Arshad Khan, Anmolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Aryan Juyal, Fabian Allen
Tilak Varma topscored for Mumbai against Rajasthan Royals
Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Sunil Narine, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Tim David, Daniel Sams, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Basil Thampi
Bet365 have Mumbai Indians as 4/5 favourites while a Kolkata Knight Riders win is available at 1/1.
Despite recent form, history tells us that Mumbai Indians find a way to win. Given the muted start to the tournament from KKR’s batters, a Mumbai win seems most likely.
In the UK, Sky Sports have exclusive rights to this year's tournament, with matches available on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket.
Fans in India can watch all of the action on Star Sports.
Elsewhere in the world, viewers in Australia can watch the IPL on Fox Sports while in New Zealand, Sky Sport will provide coverage.
Willow TV and Flow Sports will broadcast the tournament in the United States and the Caribbean, respectively.
Fans in MENA can catch the action on beIN Sports while in South Africa, SuperSport have the rights.
The IPL can also be streamed on Disney+ and Hotstar in certain areas.
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