The last two champions of the Indian Premier League meet on Thursday when the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders clash for the second time in this campaign. Mumbai came out on top when the two sides met in Kolkata earlier in the season so the former champions will be out for revenge here.
Mumbai Indians
It has been a weirdly up and down campaign for the defending champions so far. They are yet to win back to back matches and they move into the second half of their season in this match so that isn’t at all ideal.
Mumbai won their last match so they have the chance for back to back wins. It might have served them well that they won batting first too as it shows they can restrict sides although whether they can do it on this ground remains to be seen but if they bowl well in the second half of the season they could yet defend their title.
Kolkata Knight Riders
That loss to the Indians remains Kolkata’s only one this season. They have won their other four matches. They have won them cruising with their top order and as we saw in their last win they have won them with their batting depth and that bodes well for them as they try to regain their title.
If there is a concern over Kolkata it is that their bowling has been carted a couple of times in the event now but Gautam Gambhir has so many options to use that eventually a decent combination will be worked out to be effective at the right times.
Team news
Mumbai Indians have finally got themselves a replacement for Lasith Malinga. That comes in the form of Jerome Taylor but he isn’t expected to start here. Kieron Pollard’s form is becoming a concern and he desperately needs to make an impact soon with Kieron Pollard waiting in the wings.
Kolkata Knight Riders look set to be without Manish Pandey again. He has been diagnosed with chicken pox but even if he hadn’t and he was fit his space may no longer be available given how well Suryakumar Yadav played in the previous match.
Form
Mumbai Indians: LWLLWLW
Kolkata Knight Riders: WLWWW
Head to head: Mumbai Indians 12-5 Kolkata Knight Riders
At Wankhede: Mumbai Indians 4-1 Kolkata Knight Riders
Wankhede Stadium
This is the last match of the season at this ground with the matches being moved away due to the drought. Scores in the three previous matches here have gradually got higher and now that there has been eight days between matches here you would think the wicket will have got back to playing how it normally does.
That mean we should get back to the way of thinking that this will be a batting paradise where the boundaries get peppered and the bowlers struggle. This has always been a tough ground to defend as we saw in the recent T20 World Cup and I expect no difference here.
Betting
With the difficulty that defending this ground carries I can’t really be getting involved in the match betting prior to the toss. If I had to back one I’d probably go with Kolkata as I think they are the better side but when you think they failed to defend in Kolkata that only further makes me run for the hills.
Instead I will play the side markets with the obvious one being the sixes. By and large Mumbai have suddenly started hitting more sixes which is a positive and Kolkata are hitting plenty of sixes as well.
When you think of the power hitters on show here we have Sharma, Pollard, Buttler, Rayudu, Pandya, Uthappa, Yadav, Pathan, Russell and Shakib among others so we don’t lack for hitters in this match.
On what should be a good wicket and with boundaries perfectly accessible I’m expecting to see at least a dozen sixes here especially when we factor in that there were 16 of them in the reverse fixture on a bigger ground with a slower wicket.
Tips
WON – Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back them here:
