Mumbai Indians are always a big team in the IPL, despite their reputation of being slow starters in the competition. They lost to Rising Pune Supergiant, but there will be no room for error when Mumbai Indians face Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
KKR, on the other hand, will come into this match as a confident unit after their flawless win against Gujarat Lions, with Chris Lynn and Gautam Gambhir shining brightly.
The home team will have to make some team changes, and also tweak their batting order. The format of the T20 game requires openers to play an important role, and it was quite surprising to see Rohit Sharma coming down the order for Mumbai Indians when he has been hugely successful at the top.
Rohit should open, no matter what, and Jos Buttler, who can be a huge threat in the death overs, can move down the order.
In their playing XI for this match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai are set to bring on their strike bowler Lasith Malinga, who was away for international duty, and hence missed out the first match. The pacer could replace Tim Southee in the playing XI.
Mumbai have been forced to make one more change, with Ambati Rayudu suffering a groin injury. It could open the doors for left-hander Saurabh Tiwary, who has IPL experience behind him.
The KKR, on the other hand, have no problem whatsoever. Though their bowlers could have fared better against Gujarat, one would be surprised if they make more than one change in their playing XI, since teams refrain from breaking a winning combination.
However, they have three regular spinners in their squad, and additional services of Yusuf Pathan with his off-breaks. So they might think of using an all-rounder too and drop Piyush Chawla, which remains to be seen.
Irrespective of which bowlers play for KKR on Sunday, it is their batsmen, including Gambhir, Lynn, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey, who will hold the key at the middle. If Lynn fires once again, KKR should well be on track for another win in IPL 2017.
Confirmed playing XI
Mumbai Indians:Rohit Sharma (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Jos Buttler, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Krunal Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah.
KKR: Gautam Gambhir (c), Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Woakes, Ankit Rajpoot, Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, Trent Boult.
