Mumbai faces uphill task against Knight Riders

MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians will face an uphill task against the firepower of Kolkata Knight Riders batters when the teams clash here on Sunday in their IPL contest, with both former champions looking to put their campaigns back on track.

While Mumbai was able to break its winless streak in its last game against Delhi Capitals, Kolkata went down fighting on Friday night against Sunrisers Hyderabad in a high-scoring contest at the Eden Gardens.

However, despite winning the previous game, the most successful IPL team, Mumbai Indians, will be under added pressure at the Wankhede Stadium, for it has not been able to harness its potential so far in IPL 2023.

With two wins and as many defeats, Kolkata has had its share of highs and lows. Rohit Sharma made a match-winning 65 against Delhi but the challenge for the Mumbai captain will be to attain consistency, especially when the other senior, Suryakumar Yadav, is going through a lean patch.

Mumbai is likely to be without its ace pacer Jofra Archer, who has been sidelined by fresh elbow trouble post his appearance in the first match of the season. Jason Behrendorff and Riley Meredith will have to shoulder the responsibility in the fast-bowling department, while Piyush Chawla will be expected to carry forward his form from the previous game where he took 3/22.

Mumbai will bank on its young guns Tim David, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma and Ishan Kishan to fire, given that Kolkata has shown incredible fight right till the end to pull off a stunning win against Gujarat Titans, and fight till the last ball against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Rinku Singh will be the biggest threat with the bat for Mumbai since the left-hander has smacked an unbeaten 48 and 58 in his last two outings batting at No 7. Besides, skipper Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Shardul Thakur have been among the runs for Kolkata, which indicates Mumbai will have to be at its best in all departments.

Kolkata skipper Rana banished his ordinary run with the bat, scoring 75 off 41 balls on Friday, and announcing his return to form. On the other hand, in his last two outings with the bat, Rinku has alone hit a grand total of five fours and 10 sixes while executing two high-quality knocks in the death overs. The focus will once again be on the talented young batter in the Kolkata line-up.

However, Kolkata has some concerns, too, in the form of its all-rounder Andre Russell, who has struggled with the bat in this IPL. Russell could not complete his quota of overs against Sunrisers in Kolkata on Friday night as he suffered cramps, but his three wickets did keep Kolkata in the game for long.