The Indian Premier League visits the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for the first time this season in the second half of the double header on Sunday. The two biggest names in the competition meet in the Mumbai opener when the Mumbai Indians host the former champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
Mumbai Indians will be hoping home advantage comes to fruition this season having struggled here in recent times while the Knight Riders will be heading into the match looking to put quick fire back to back wins on the board.
Mumbai Indians
I thought it was a surprise that the Mumbai Indians lost their opening match to the Rising Pune Supergiant and there was a couple of reasons for that. Usually they are very good at defending totals with their bowling attack and generally they field pretty well with the likes of Kieron Pollard setting the standard.
Those things never materialised and really for 18 overs of their batting innings they were behind the eight ball too so they have much they can improve on heading into this match. One area they can be happy with is the form of Jos Buttler who was going along nicely until the umpire incorrectly cut his innings short.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The first match for the Knight Riders was a record breaking one as they powered to a 10 wicket win over the Gujarat Lions. If I’m honest I don’t think that match was an easy one to assess from a balance point of view going forward but the margin of victory and the marker it laid down will have delighted the Kolkata side.
Kolkata produced a masterstroke of a curve ball to send Chris Lynn up the order and the move paid dividends almost immediately as he started launching balls everywhere and it soon became obvious KKR would win the match. Going forward they will be looking to improve their bowling at the death but that looked their only weakness.
Team News
Mumbai Indians have Lasith Malinga available for this one after he has finished playing for Sri Lanka. Asela Gunaratne could also be around but there may not be a spot for him. Ambati Rayudu is out with the injury that saw him stretchered off in the opener.
Shakib-al-Hasan will be close to a start for the Knight Riders but finding an overseas spot might not be easy for him after the way they went in their first match. With that in mind Kolkata could be unchanged.
Betting
I would imagine this is another match which is going to have a strong chance of going to the side who bat second in the match so with that in mind I’m not really interested in betting in the match outcome. There are two bets I like though.
This is a small ground and a fast scoring one at that and we regularly see insane sixes totals here and I fancy we might see another in this match. In Jos Buttler, Chris Lynn, Yusuf Pathan and Kieron Pollard we have some of the cleanest hitters of a ball in the world on show here and if you take Lasith Malinga out of the Mumbai bowling attack neither have a huge amount to offer in that regard. I fancy 13.5 sixes will be cleared quite comfortably.
I’m also going to try Kieron Pollard to be the top Mumbai Indians batsman. Kolkata Knight Riders were poor at the death the other night and Pollard is exactly the type of player who will feast on any looseness around there. With spin potentially keeping the top order to manageable totals Pollard might not need many when he comes in so at 14/1 I’ll pay to see if he can go past whatever he is set.
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Tips
WON – Back Over 13.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with BetBright
Back it here:
Back K.Pollard Top Mumbai Indians Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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