Mumbai gain Malinga but lose Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu injured his groin
Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2017, Mumbai April 08, 2017

Match facts

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders

Mumbai, April 9, 2017

Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Head to head

Last season: Mumbai Indians won both matches, by the same margin - six wickets - and with the same Man of the Match - Rohit Sharma

Overall: Mumbai have won 13 of the 18 matches

In the news


Mumbai will be buoyed by the arrival of T20 specialist Lasith Malinga, who warmed up for the IPL with a hat-trick against Bangladesh, although in a losing cause. His addition will strengthen an attack that took only three wickets and could not defend 184 against Rising Pune Supergiants in their opening game.

However, they will be without batsman Ambati Rayudu, who was stretchered off the field during the first game with a groin injury. Rayudu will be out for at least 10 days, according to Mumbai coach Mahela Jayawardene. Saurabh Tiwary could replace Rayudu.

Sri Lanka's Asela Gunaratne also joined the Mumbai squad, although he will find it tougher to squeeze into the middle order that comprises notable names from both domestic and international cricket. Mumbai, however, might reassess their decision to leave out Harbhajan Singh, their most capped player, from the first game. He might help curb Chris Lynn's aggression as the batsman strikes more easily against fast bowlers.

Kolkata Knight Riders received an international boost too - Shakib Al Hasan joined them after receiving the Man-of-the-Match award by top-scoring and taking three wickets against Sri Lanka. Knight Riders have already changed their prolific opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa from last season, by making Lynn open. But, moving from Rajkot to a smaller ground in Mumbai, will they want to play three spinners again? Umesh Yadav's unavailability will make them look towards Ankit Rajpoot as a domestic pace option.

The likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Rohit Sharma (capt), 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya/Hardik Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan/Tim Southee, 11 Lasith Malinga

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Chris Lynn, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Piyush Chawla/Ankit Rajpoot, 11 Trent Boult

Stats that matter

  • Among teams that have faced each other at least ten times in the IPL, Mumbai's 13-5 record against Knight Riders is the best (by win-loss ratio)

  • In the 2016 IPL, spinners struck 16 times at Wankhede Stadium at an average of 20.12 and economy rate of seven, compared to the pacers' average of 34.30 while taking 26 wickets with an economy rate of 8.52

  • Rohit Sharma has scored 25.50% of Mumbai's runs in the eight wins he has featured in against Knight Riders

  • Mumbai have the lowest average (18) for opening stands, using six pairs, since the beginning of 2016. Knight Riders have the best (50), after utilising only two pairs

  • Lendl Simmons, who did not play Mumbai's first match, has the highest average in the IPL (47.10). As opener, he is only behind Virat Kohli's average of 58.11.

  • Harbhajan has dismissed a few attacking batsmen as many as four times each in the IPL - Gambhir, Chris Gayle, Manish Pandey, Kevin Pietersen, Suresh Raina and Dwayne Smith

Disclaimer: This news is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Cricday. Source Link