What

The Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians will compete in Match 54 of VIVO IPL 2017

MI currently occupy the top spot in the standings and are almost certain to finish first or second – which comes with the incentive of having a second shot at the final in case of finishing on the wrong side in the first playoff match. MI were the first team to confirm a berth in the playoffs. However, at a time when teams must be playing close to their best-cricket, MI have lost two matches on the bounce and that must certainly worry the team management; in their most-recent outing, they lost a close match to KXIP, and prior to that lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad on the road.

The Kolkata Knight Riders are nearly through to the playoffs – though there exists a (nearly impossible) mathematical chance that they can still miss the top four. KKR have 16 points and the best NRR of all the contenders, and the intention will be to win this match and finish among the top two teams. KKR too are coming from a defeat to KXIP; it was a match they should have won, but let slip from their clutches. Knowing how passionate Gautam Gambhir is, one is sure a few words would have been spoken in the dressing room about the importance of men-in-form and players set in the middle completing the job. KKR will be without at least two of their first-choice players; the batsman Robin Uthappa and fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile have both been ruled out of the match, possibly giving them more time to recover from their respective injuries.

When

13May 2017, 2000 Hrs IST

Where

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

The Protagonists

Sunil Narine’s blitzes at the top have annoyed many a fielding team captains; the Trinidadian, better known for his bowling, has provided KKR with fifth-gear starts in several games recently. Gautam Gambhir is KKR’s top run-getter this season, but he has not made a substantial score in the last four matches and will be keen to get a big one in this important clash.

Given he normally bats lower down the order and the fact that one is only used to see him playing cameos, it is hard to believe that Kieron Pollard is Mumbai Indians’ top run-getter this season. While it establishes that the Trinidadian is in form, it also shows that the rest of the batsmen at the top have not done the job as well. Since he has been drafted into the XI, Lendl Simmons has been brilliant as opener, but the form of Nitish Rana and Rohit Sharma should be a worry for MI; Rana has gone off the boil in the latter half of the competition, while following every good innings, the skipper Rohit has made a poor score. But expect a big score from the MI captain in this match - given his romance with the Eden Gardens.

Given MI’s well-documented struggles against spinners, keep an eye on the two wrist spinners in the KKR line-up – Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla. Among the pacers in this match, keep an eye on Mitchell McClenaghan in the MI line-up, and Umesh Yadav in the KKR colours.

Match within the match

Gautam Gambhir, counted amongst the best players of spin bowling,facing up to Harbhajan Singh, and Rohit Sharma, given his poor record against the spinners this season, against the KKR spinners should make for interesting match-ups. Also look out for Narine (the batsman) against McClenaghan.

Head to Head

Overall: Matches played – 19, KKR Won – 5, MI Won – 14.

Since 2015: Matches played – 5, KKR Won – 1, MI Won – 4.

When these two teams met at the Wankhede Stadium earlier this season, MI chased down 179 riding on the back of Nitish Rana’s half-century and a blitz from Hardik Pandya at the end. MI won the match by 4 wickets, getting past the finish line with one ball to spare.

Trivia

Since the time he has been part of the Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma has phenomenal numbers against the Kolkata Knight Riders; he averages 60.11 and has one century and four half-centuries in 13 innings against KKR.

In his last three IPL innings at the Eden Gardens, Rohit Sharma has scores of 98 not out, 50 and 84 not out.

Sunil Narine has outstanding numbers against MI; in 10 IPL matches against MI, he has taken 16 wickets and has an economy rate of 6.05 – his lowest against all the existing IPL teams. The KKR spinner seems to have a liking for the MI captain Rohit Sharma, who he has dismissed on 5 occasions - more often than any other batsman.

What Next

Where Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians head to from here depends on the result of this match and where they finish in the VIVO IPL 2017 standings. The team that finishes in the top two will play in Qualifier 1 in Mumbai on May 16. Whichever team finishes third and fourth will play in the Eliminator in Bengaluru on May 17.