 The Kolkata Knight Riders will host the Mumbai Indians in the last game
of the Indian Premier League, league stage of the tournament. This is the
70th game of the tournament this season and will be played at the Eden Gardens
in Kolkata which should given the Knight Riders a huge advantage.
Click for Live Score Card of Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians
As things currently stand, this is a very important game from more than one stand-point.
The Kings XI Punjab are breathing down the neck of the two sides and that will
mean that this game will assume a lot of importance.
If Punjab lose their last game, it will mean that both these teams, Mumbai and
Kolkata will go through to the playoffs without any consideration for the results.
However, if the Punjab side win, then it gives rise to interesting scenarios.
For one, if Punjab win and Mumbai Indians lose, both the sides will
be tied at 16 points apiece and that will mean that Punjab will go through to
the next round because of their better net run rate. On the other hand, if Punjab
win and Mumbai also win, there will be a tie between Punjab and Kolkata. However,
the net run rate for the two sides is similar. If Punjab win, their net run
rate will improve while the Kolkata loss will dip their net run rate a little.
Now the question is whether it will be enough for them to go below Punjab -
something that will depend on their margin of defeat.
On the other hand, there is another scenario obviously. In order to have a better
chance of going through to the final, the sides will look to finish in the top
two of the league stage in the IPL. Now, in order to do that, the two sides will
look to win this game.
Let's assume that Kolkata wins this game. They will be ending on 18 points. Now,
between Bangalore and Chennai, if Bangalore wins, they will have 19 but Chennai
will be left with 18 - thus it will be a tie for the second spot between the Chennai
Super Kings and the Knight Riders and the team with the better net run rate will
end second.
On the other hand, if Chennai win that one, they will have 20 points while Bangalore
will end on 17. Then, the winner of the Mumbai-Kolkata game will go through at
the second spot.
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