The Mumbai Indians will travel to the Eden Gardens to play the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 56th game of the IPL. This is also the last league match of
the tournament, and this match is highly irrelevant from the points table's perspective.
For starters, Mumbai Indians had already qualified for the semi-finals, two
games ago. So, apart from taking confidence into the semi-finals, the result
will not matter to the side. Secondly, the Kolkata Knight Riders will go into
the game knowing that they have already crashed out of the tournament. However,
a win here could be vital from their standings' perspective; the Knight Riders
could end up anywhere between 5th to 8th based on whether they win or lose the
game and the margin!
Click for Live Score Card of Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai IndiansThe Mumbai Indians will want to play their best side for this game.
After all, with the semi-finals to be played in the next couple of days, it
will not make sense for them to go with a second string team, lose the game,
and in turn, lose the momentum as well. So, according to me, the side should
have their best eleven that will also play the semi-finals; Tendulkar and Shikhar
Dhawan to open the innings, with Jayasuriya out, and to be followed by the likes
of Saurabh Tiwary, Ambati Rayadu, Duminy, Pollard, Malinga, Zaheer, Harbhajan.
There are two spots to be played for, and one gets the sense that the other
foreign player could be Dwayne Bravo, whereas the Indian player would
be one of Murtuza Ali or a quick bowler like Dhawal Kulkarni depending how the
pitch is expected to behave.
For the Kolkata Knight Riders, the captain did everything he could, but the
side has just failed to respond. They will look to now try out a couple of new
players waiting in the wings and give them the opportunity. For some reason,
Ajantha Mendis was not tried out in the previous game, and he should make a
comeback, and according to me, so should Charl Langeveldt.
Amongst the rest, there is a good chance that one of Chris Gayle or
Brendon McCullum could be given the axe and an Indian could be brought into
the playing eleven.
However, it is not so much about changing teams around, but how the Kolkata
side plays in the game. Apart from Ganguly, the aggression is missing amongst
most other players, and the top-order is overly dependent on the inconsistent
openers. Cannot see Kolkata win this game against the well-oiled Mumbai Indians.
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