IPL 10, Match 7, MI v KKR: Mumbai Indians Predicted XI

Mumbai Indians take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in the first home game of the season for them at Mumbai.

View : 18.9K

2 Min Read

Mumbai Indians IPL 2016 BCCI
info

Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians celebrate fall of a wicket during an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 11, 2016. (Photo Source: IANS)

Mumbai Indians IPL 2016 BCCI
Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians celebrate fall of a wicket during an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 11, 2016. (Photo Source: IANS)

Mumbai Indians will be hosting the Kolkata Knight Riders in their first home game of the season. The sea of blue at the Wankhede Stadium will be hoping for their home side coming out triumphs against the spirited Knight Riders. Both teams share a great history between them and hence it is needless to say that a cracker of a match is on the cards for the fans.

Coming to the match, both teams have had contrasting run in the tournament openers this year. The Knight Riders inflicted a severe 10 wicket defeat on the Gujarat Lions at Rajkot. Clearly, the KKR side is one of the strongest visiting sides in the IPL. On the other hand, the Mumbai Indians lost their first match of the season against the Rising Pune Supergiant. Over the years, Mumbai has always fancied their chances at home.

They have a very impressive home record and hence it will be interesting to see how they fare up in the match against a good touring side like KKR at home. Coming in to the game, they have been bolstered by the return on Lasith Malinga and Asela Gunaratne. It is very likely that Malinga will be drafted straight in the playing eleven for the match. Here is the predicted eleven for the Mumbai Indians in the MIvKKR match:

Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel Mumbai Indians
Mohali: Parthiv Patel of Mumbai Indians celebrates his half century during an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on April 24, 2016. (Photo Source: Surjeet Yadav/IANS)

Parthiv Patel has been in a stunning form in the recent times in the domestic cricket. He is going through a golden patch in this season. He recently made his comeback in the Indian team as well during the England Test series in 2016. Soon, he led his domestic side Gujarat to their first ever Ranji Trophy triumph this season.

His personal form has been exceptional too. Prior to the start of the IPL 2017, Parthiv had 1927 runs to his name in 103 IPL matches. Something that he needs to work on is his average which is in early 20s. He will also be the wicket keeper for the team in the match. Albeit they have the services of Jos Buttler too, Parthiv will be the preferred keeper in the match.

Jos Buttler

Jos Buttler IPL 9
Jos Buttler. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Jos Buttler, the English wicket keeper batsman, was promoted up the order to bat in the first match against the Rising Pune Supergiant. He batted really well and took the attack to the opposition right from the word go. He smashed a quick fire 38 off just 19 balls to give a flying start to the side. He his 3 sixes and 3 fours in his knock before getting dismissed.

He was unlucky to have been given out lbw despite having an inside edge on to the shot. He will continue to open the innings for the team in the matches to follow given the red hot form he has been in. In the last season, he played 14 IPL matches and scored 238 runs with a strike rate close to 140. If the Mumbai Indians bat first in the match, they will want the English batsman to go all guns blazing right from the word go.

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma vs DD
New Delhi: Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma in action during an IPL match between Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians at Feroz Shah Kotla New Delhi on April 23, 2016. (Photo: IANS)

Indian batsman Rohit Sharma had a very lackluster outing in the opening match. He failed on the personal front and was dismissed after scoring just 3 runs. When it came to the captaincy front, he failed to shuffle his resources properly and that cost them dearly.

Rohit has not been in match practice for a long time now and that is something that will be a concern for them. He needs to up his game if he wishes to lead from the front. Last year, the Mumbai skipper was the leading run scorer for the team in the tournament and the team would want him to replicate his performances this year.

Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard Mumbai Indians
Mumbai: Kieron Pollard of Mumbai Indians in action during IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 20, 2016. (Photo Source: Sandeep Mahankal/IANS)

Kieron Pollard is a big impact player and has been one of the few players who form the core of the franchise. Pollard is a renowned hitter of the cricket ball and has been associated with the side since the early editions of the tournament. This is one of the reasons why he might get the loyalty factor being drafted in the team.

In the recent times though, Pollard has been out of form and struggled in the recently concluded T20I series against West Indies. Also, he was taken for full bounty in the previous match when he had to bowl the crucial last over against Steve Smith.

Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana
Nitish Rana. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Nitish Rana has been one of the most underused and underrated players of the Mumbai set up. Rana had scored a brilliant 70 odd off just 30 odd deliveries in one of the fixtures in IPL 2016. So he certainly does not lack talent. He was promoted higher up the order at number 4 in the batting line up for the match.

He made an impressive start and scored 34 off just 28 balls. He got the start but could not capitalize on the chance given to him. However, the cameo was good enough to earn him another go in the playing eleven for the match. Rana is someone who can bat higher up the order and can also play in the lower order in the death overs if need be.

Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya IPL 9
Krunal Pandya. (Photo Source: BCCI)

The elder of the two brothers, Krunal Pandya is expected to get a game in. Like his youngster brother, the southpaw is also an all-rounder and has the ability to strike some lusty blows just like his brother Hardik. Even in the previous edition of the tournament, the southpaw made his way to a swashbuckling 86 off 37 deliveries against the Delhi Daredevils which gave Mumbai a big win by 80 runs.

Along with his hard-hitting prowess, Krunal is more than efficient left arm orthodox spinner and pitches the ball in perfect areas more often than not. Despite going for a few runs here and there Krunal has the ability to break partnerships and provide his captain with some crucial wickets at important phases of the game.

Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya IPL 2016
Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians player Hardik Pandya during a practice session at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 10, 2016. (Photo Source: IANS)

Hardik Pandya was the power performer for the team with the bat in the season opener for them against Supergiant. He clobbered 30 runs in the last over bowled by Ashoke Dinda to help the team post a total in excess of 180. He can hit the long ball and that ability sees him drafted straight in the playing eleven yet again.

Also he has been a good bowler for the Indian set up in the recent international season. He can bowl with the new ball which can be a threatening prospect in seaming conditions. Pandya had bowled with the new ball in the first match and had picked up 1/36 in his four overs. With the bat he scored 35 off just 15 balls.

Harbhajan Singh

(Photo Source: BCCI)

It was a big surprise to see Harbhajan Singh sit out of the line up in the first match of the season against RPS. Harbhajan has been a core member of the side. He had also expressed his excitement for doing well in the tournament this year and his absence came as a big surprise on the day.

However, he is most likely to be back in the mix of things in the match against KKR. Also the fact that the KKR opener Gautam Gambhir is a left handed batsman, gives Harbhajan the opportunity to take an attack to him early on in the match. He can also use the long handle if needed in the death overs and can play the role of the floater in the line up.

Mitch McClenaghan

Mitchell McClenaghan Mumbai Indians
Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians bowler Mitchell McClenaghan celebrate fall of a wicket during an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 11, 2016. (Photo Source: IANS)

New Zealand pacer Mitch McClenaghan was the star performer with the ball for the Mumbai team last season. He was the leading wicket taker for them in IPL 2016 and had shouldered the responsibility of being the spearhead of the bowling attack in the absence of Lasith Malinga.

He did a reasonably good job in fetching the early wickets in the matches and then backing it up with economical spells in the death overs. However, he was not at his best in the previous match. He was taken away for 36 runs and gave runs at an economy of 9. He bowled his full quota of 4 overs but could only get one wicket in the match.

Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga give David Warner an Indian traditional send off
Watch: Lasith Malinga give David Warner an Indian traditional send off

The Mumbai line up has got a big boost of their premier bowler Lasith Malinga ahead of their match against the Knights. Malinga is available for selection for the match and will have a lot of eyes glued to him. It will be a return of sorts for the Malinga in the IPL as he was ruled out of the tournament last year due to an injury. This year, he will be hoping to replicate his heroics in the tournament.

In the 98 matches that he has played in the IPL thus far, he has scalped 143 wickets. He has been the holder of the coveted purple cap as well. Malinga might be drafted straight in the playing eleven at the expense of someone like Tim Southee, who looked average in the match against Rising Pune Supergiant.

Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah IPL
Jasprit Bumrah. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Ace Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah is a certain player for Mumbai in the line up for the match. Bumrah has been the leading pacer for the team since the last couple of years. He bowled his full quota of 4 overs in the match and yielded  29 runs in the match. He was definitely not at his very best in the match.

He failed to be in the wickets column and that perhaps hurt the team. For the team to start making early enroads, it will be nice to see if skipper Rohit Sharma throws the new ball to Bumrah in the powerplay. Bumrah was the leading wicket taker for the Mumbai Indians after Mitch McClenaghan last year in the IPL 2016.

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

googletelegraminstagramwhatsappyoutubethreadstwitter

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store