Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders are two IPL heavyweights. They are 2 out of only 3 IPL franchises to have won the tournament multiple times. Both teams have no dearth of followers and passionate fans. Tonight when the 2 teams go face to face again, it will be an advantage for Mumbai. MI looks like the most balanced squad and is sitting pretty in the top 2. They haven’t tinkered with their XI at all after Ishan Kishan came into the team in place of Saurabh Tiwari earlier in the tournament.
KKR on the other hand is coming off a poor performance against RCB. They were comprehensively beaten by Virat Kohli’s men. There is still a cloud of doubt about Sunil Narine’s future in the tournament and Andre Russell to hasn’t been in the best of form. KKR relies quite heavily on Shubman Gill to deliver and he will be the key man.
The game will be held in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi throughout the tournament has helped the seamers with the new ball. That is where MI’s real strength lies too. The trio of Bumrah, Boult, and Pattinson has been too hot to handle for most teams. Rohit Sharma relishes playing against KKR as he showed earlier in the tournament. Both captains will be looking to bat first after winning the toss.
5 players that must feature in your Fantasy XI
1) Rohit Sharma – As stated above Rohit has a tremendous record against KKR. He didn’t quite fire in MI’s last match and is too good a player to miss out often.
2) Shubman Gill – He will have to play the sheet anchor’s role. KKR is filled with flamboyant players, who will have to bat around Shubman Gill for them to have a chance.
IPL 2020
3) Suryakumar Yadav – Yadav is in red hot form and according to many experts is a future India prospect in T20s. He is a must-pick in your Fantasy XI.
4) Trent Boult – Boult has been quite instrumental in MI’s success this year. He will get a bit of help with the new ball and is sure to trouble the right-handers with the ball darting into them.
5) Varun Chakravarthy – Varun has been a revelation for KKR in this season. Once the ball gets a bit old and the pitch a bit slower, his abundant variations will come into play. He will enjoy bowling on Abu Dhabi’s big grounds with huge boundaries.
Cricket Cult’s Fantasy XI for MI vs KKR
1) Rohit Sharma, 2) Shubman Gill (vc), 3) Suryakumar Yadav (c), 4) Quinton De Kock, 5) Nitish Rana, 6) Keiron Pollard, 7) Eoin Morgan, 8) Rahul Chahar, 9) Varun Chakravarthy, 10) Trent Boult, 11) Jasprit Bumrah