Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, KKR vs MI, Match Preview, Prediction

In the fifth game of the IPL 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will compete against Mumbai Indians (MI) at MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk, Chennai) this Tuesday (13th April) night.

During this upcoming match, both teams will play their second match in this IPL 2021. Mumbai Indians lost their first game of this season while KKR claimed a good victory in their season opener.

IPL 2021, Match 5: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians (KKR vs MI) – Match Preview

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

IPL 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders, KKR vs MI, Match Preview, Prediction
Image-IPLT20

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have got a very positive start in the IPL 2021 as they beat SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 10 runs.

Opener Nitish Rana won the Player of the Match award in their latest season opener for scoring 80 off 56 balls with the help of 9 fours and 4 sixes. Also, Rahul Tripathi played the knock of 53 runs off 29 balls and he had a 93 runs partnership with Nitish Rana for the second wicket which set up them for a good first innings total.

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Later, Andre Russell (5) and captain Eoin Morgan (2) fell cheaply but the former KKR captain Dinesh Karthik played the game-changing knock of 22 not out off 9 balls.

KKR didn’t include Caribbean cricketer Sunil Narine in the playing XI for the first game, but they had the spinners Varun Chakravarty, Harbhajan Singh and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. Appearing for the first time in a recognised professional cricket match since IPL 2019 final, Harbhajan delivered only one over in that game for KKR where he conceded eight runs, including a sixer.

Only Prasidh Krishna (2/35) got two wickets in their IPL 2021 opening match while Shakib, Pat Cummins and Andre Russell got one wicket each. In short, KKR played a control game in their first match of the IPL 2021.

Full Squad

Eoin Morgan (C), Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Gurkeerat Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Harbhajan Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi

Mumbai Indians (MI)

IPL 2021, Mumbai Indians, KKR vs MI, Match Preview, Prediction
Image Credits: BCCI

The last two-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians (MI) lost the first match of the IPL 2021 as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) chased down the 160 runs target on the final ball of that game. While they fought really well, their season opener defeat was not new anyway as they have lost all their last nine IPL season-opening matches.

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Despite a positive start, captain Rohit Sharma was run-out unluckily for 19 runs. Australian cricketer Chris Lynn finally made his debut for Mumbai Indians in that game while South African cricketer Quinton de Kock was unavailable for that match due to quarantine rule. Lynn actually struggled in that first match of the IPL 2021 but he still managed to score 49 runs off 35 balls where he hit 4 fours and 3 good sixes.

Suryakumar Yadav (31) and Ishan Kishan (28) were dismissed in crucial moments as Mumbai Indians only managed to score 159/9 in the first innings, while Harshal Patel’s brilliant death over just restricted them.

Among their bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah (2/26), IPL debutant Marco Jansen (2/28) and Krunal Pandya (1/25) were in very control with the ball. While New Zealand left-arm pacer Trent Boult had bowling figures of 4-0-36-1, Rahul Chahar’s expensive bowling became one of the crucial negative points for the team in that game as the youngster had bowling figures of 4-0-43-0.

Full Squad

Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Amolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Singh, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar.

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IPL 2021, Match 5: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians (KKR vs MI) – Match Prediction

Kieron Pollard. Dinesh Karthik, IPL 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, KKR vs MI, Match Preview, Prediction
Image Credit: Twitter

KKR have got a perfect start for the IPL 2021 while Mumbai Indians just missed out on their chance in the tournament opener. Though Mumbai Indians have a huge success record against KKR (leading by the 21-9), KKR have got a more confident start in the new season.