IPL 2021: Match 05,KKR vs MI
IPL 2021: Match 05,KKR vs MI

IPL 2021: Match 05,KKR vs MI

kkr vs MI

KKR vs MI in IPL 2021 Live Score: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians, 5th Match, Live Cricket Score, Commentary- Follow LIVE

Introducing Spin in the Powerplay: Kolkata Knight Riders have been the worst performing bowling unit in the Powerplay phase in the last three IPL seasons averaging 52 runs per wicket and striking once every 37 balls. For context, the second worst performers Delhi Capitals averages 40.5 and strikes every 28 balls. The lack of a specialist new ball swing bowler both in the local and overseas pace department has resulted in lack of wickets at the top. Powerplay wickets are worth their weight in gold and lack of them usually results in the domination of the batting unit throughout the innings especially against a bowling unit like KKR which doesn’t possess a genuine strike bowler during the middle overs phase. Since 2018, the Powerplay scores of Mumbai Indians in matches between the two sides read as 59/1, 51/0, 41/2, 46/0, 47/1 and 56/0. KKR’s bowling unit have conceded a good start almost every time and let the Mumbai Indians top-order batsmen set the tempo. The only time they picked more than a wicket in the Powerplay was when MI were chasing a deep total of 233. KKR doesn’t possess a proven gun new ball pacer in their squad and their young pace bowlers mostly hit the deck and lack control which falls straight into the hands of the MI openers, Rohit and Lynn/De Kock. To overcome this issue, KKR should open the innings with Harbhajan and Shakib al Hasan, two experienced campaigners who are capable of bowling with the new white Kookaburra ball like they did last night against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Rohit Sharma usually struggles against spin in the shorter format and while de Kock murders left-arm spin he’s still susceptible against the other two spin types. The only issue in executing this match-up is the presence of a left-right combination throughout MI’s batting order but the dry conditions in Chepauk still makes it a tactic worth trying. Morgan will also not be averse to this tactic as he himself bowled Rashid at the top a couple of times against Rohit in the recently concluded T20I series against India.

Adopting the English Approach against Pandya and Pollard : Mumbai Indians were one of the heavy scoring teams in the death overs last season striking at a rate of 12.8 rpo, comfortably the league’s best. H Pandya and K Pollard do a lot of the heavy lifting for them during this period. While both murder spin and full length pace bowling, both have an apparent weakness against high pace short-pitched bowling. This weakness was exploited pretty well by the English bowlers against H Pandya in the recently concluded T20I series where the likes of Wood, Archer and Jordan kept banging the deck hard making life difficult for the Baroda all-rounder. The think tank behind the planning and execution of this tactic, N Leamon and E Morgan also occupy the same capacity in the KKR setup and it’s almost certain that they’ll look to repeat it. They had a similar sort of plan last year with a mix of short balls and wide Yorkers but the bowlers lacked in execution with P Cummins often bowling length or lacking direction with short ones. While the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Russell are capable of executing this plan, it would work wonders if they can bring in the pacy L Ferguson in place of P Cummins or S Al Hasan (with Pawan Negi as a local replacement). Based on the limited length data we have and from observing Hardik over the years, there’s a marginal difference between bowling back of a length and bowling short to him.

There are no major changes or tough calls which the Mumbai Indians have to take coming into their 2nd game of the season. Most of the responsibility of scoring maximum runs will be on the top 4 of the Mumbai Indians. when it comes to there bowling one weakness is their spinners. Especially when any team plays in Chennai they should always make sure that there spin attack is good enough to counter attack and defend when necessary against any batting lineup. To resolve this issue MI can bring in the experienced leggie Piyush Chawla, who gives them an option of bowling any where in the innings, be it in power play, middle over or at the End of the innings sometimes.

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma (L) and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan. Credit: PTI Photo/Sportzpics

Predicted playing 11 of MI vs KKR:

  1. Quinton de Kock/Chris Lynn
  2. Rohit Sharma
  3. Suryakumar Yadav
  4. Ishan Kishan
  5. Kieron Pollard
  6. Hardik Pandya
  7. Krunal Pandya
  8. Piyush Chawla
  9. M Jansen
  10. Jasprit Bumrah
  11. Trent Boult

Predicted Playing 11 of KKR vs MI:

  1. Shubman Gill
  2. Nitish Rana
  3. Rahul Tripathi
  4. Eoin Morgan
  5. Andre Russell
  6. Dinesh Karthik
  7. Shakib Al Hasan
  8. Prasidh Krishna
  9. Pat Cummins
  10. Harbhajan Singh
  11. Kamlesh Nagarkoti

Both teams will be keen to win the game as, MI will play for there 1st victory of season and KKR will play to keep there winning streak intact.

How about Sharing this?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *