The Indian Premier League heads back to Abu Dhabi on Thursday when the Mumbai Indians continue their IPL 2021 title defence. They go up against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a clash between two mid-table sides.
Mumbai returned from the break with a defeat earlier in the week while the Knight Riders were victorious in their opening match since the resumption so they might feel they have the edge heading into this one.
Mumbai Indians
I don’t think too many were shocked by the Mumbai Indians losing their returning match on Sunday. One of the reasons for that would be the fact they played the Chennai Super Kings who have been one of the better sides this season. The other reason would be because they are notoriously slow starters to everything they do. They can’t afford their sluggish beginning to the restart to go on too long because matches are already starting to run out.
To be fair to Mumbai, they looked to have things under control but a late blitz got Chennai away from them and they weren’t quite able to reel them in. Their death bowling is likely to be a lot better here with everyone having had a run out to blow away the cobwebs so we should see a much stronger display from the champions here. Another thing which will give them confidence is their record against the Knight Riders. They have won 12 of the last 13 meetings.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The first half of the season over in India was near enough a write off for the Kolkata Knight Riders but they have given themselves hope of making the play-offs with the most emphatic opening win possible to start off the UAE leg of the season. That win didn’t just give them two points but it was dominant enough to provide them with the required boost to their net run rate that if they finish level on points with a team in the race for the top four they are likely to be in front of them on NRR.
The bowling effort set up their fine win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and while they probably got RCB at the right time with a few of their key players having not had much cricket recently, they still had to beat them let alone demolish them. The Knight Riders will be looking for much more of the same in this match, especially from their bowlers, who will need to go well to contain this Mumbai batting.
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Key Men
Adam Milne returned wonderful figures in the opening match of the resumption for the Mumbai Indians, as he seemingly has wherever he has played this summer. If he can keep things tight and get stuck into this Kolkata batting it would do the Indians no harm.
Andre Russell turned up with the ball in the previous match for the Kolkata Knight Riders. If he can add his power batting to the mix as well then he will be in the sort of form which could fire Kolkata to a win here and who knows what else.
Betting
These are two pretty decent bowling attacks and I think the bowlers can have the edge on the batters in this match. Mumbai are missing a couple of cogs in their batting at the minute with Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya nursing knocks. Even if one or both of them play it is hard to see them being at full pelt for this one. Kolkata rely a lot on hitters to score their runs but this might not be the ground for that to be fair.
The runs line for this match is 311.5 which might be a little on the high side when you consider there isn’t really a weakness to either of the bowling attacks on show here. I think I would be more comfortable on the under of that line than I would be on the Mumbai Indians until they show that they are fully up to speed. Batting in Abu Dhabi is never easy at the best of times let alone against the bowlers on show here so I like the under in this one.
Tips
Back Under 311.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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