IPL 2021: Match 5 – KKR vs MI – Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted Playing XI

Kolkata Knight Riders started their IPL 2021 season with an emphatic win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. But, at the same MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, they will face a supposedly tougher challenge when they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, April 13. Considering how the head-to-head numbers stack up, it seems KKR might have their work cut out for their next league match. 

KKR captain Eoin Morgan surprised fans with some of his decisions, one of which included selecting Harbhajan Singh over Kuldeep Yadav in the starting XI. Ahead of their second match, it will be interesting to see if Morgan decides to change his plans.

Here’s the Predicted Playing XI of Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL 2021 Match 5:

Openers (Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill)

Ahead of the season, a lot of people had expected to see Shubman Gill opening the innings with Rahul Tripathi. However, in the first match against Hyderabad, Nitish Rana walked out to bat. The left-handed batsman played a superb knock of 80 from 56 balls. This was his fourth fifty in six innings while opening for KKR. Considering his record, they are likely to stick with Rana. 

Tripathi himself played a good knock of 50+ in that match against Hyderabad and should once again be seen getting slotted at no.3. The combination of Rana and Gill makes sense as the latter likes to take his time to settle in before going for his shots. While Rana is someone who can take the attack to the opposition in the powerplay overs, something he did quite magnificently during the first match. 

Middle Order (Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik)

The order in which KKR plays their batsmen in the middle overs completely depends on the start they get. In the first match, Tripathi came at no.3 inside the powerplay but the second wicket fell only in the 16th over. Andre Russell was seen emerging considering his brute power. If KKR loses some early wickets, they also have Shakib Al Hasan to stabilize the innings. 

Morgan, who has long batted at no.4 or no.5 for his national team, didn’t start off the season quite well with the bat. In the last five overs of the match, KKR lost four wickets, all of which were of the middle-order players. This will be an issue to fix ahead of their second match. Dinesh Karthik, who played a handy 9-ball 22 knock will be coming down the order to use the death overs properly. 

All-rounders (Shakib Al Hasan and Andre Russell)

Sunil Narine, who has been a stalwart for KKR ever since he arrived at the franchise in 2012, was seen on the benches in the first match. His exclusion came after KKR brought back Shakib Al Hasan, who last played for the franchise in 2017. Shakib bowled an intelligent spell against Hyderabad and announced his comeback in purple & gold with a wicket off the first ball. 

Shakib’s key batting abilities should allow him to keep his place in the side. Apart from that, Russell’s bowling efforts in the death overs against Hyderabad were a huge boost for them as a side in the early stages of the tournament. Russell failed to make a contribution with the bat but would be looking forward to facing the Mumbai team. 

Bowlers (Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy, Pat Cummins)

Harbhajan’s inclusion in the starting XI was a bit surprising, but it was even more surprising that he bowled only one over. It can be evaluated that he was brought into the side to counter the threat of the left-handed David Warner. Considering the track in Chennai, which aids spin, Harbhajan might be picked once again ahead of Kuldeep Yadav. 

Prasidh Krishna and Varun Chakravarthy were a touch expensive but the former would be happy to get a couple of wickets under his name. Pat Cummins was used by Morgan quite brilliantly and apart from his last over, when he got whacked for a few sixes, there were no complaints regarding his spell.

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