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IPL 2021: Match 34 – MI vs KKR – Preview, Playing XI, Pitch Report & Updates

Mumbai Indians once against started the IPL with a loss. But the five-time IPL champions sure know a thing or two about bouncing back from defeats and march along quickly in the tournament.

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Sam Abraham
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Rohit Sharma - Eoin Morgan

Rohit Sharma - Eoin Morgan ( Image Credit: Twitter)

Mumbai Indians once again started the IPL with a loss. But the five-time IPL champions sure know a thing or two about bouncing back from defeats and march along quickly in the tournament. Mumbai mostly will have their skipper Rohit Sharma back leading the team and batting at the top. MI head coach Mahela Jayawardena spoke about Rohit and gave a hint that he will play against KKR. 

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Apart from that, all-rounder, Hardik Pandya will mostly play and slot in the finisher role for the team. During their last match against CSK, MI struggled to get going at fag end of the run-chase. The Junior Pandya’s presence will surely take care of that aspect. 

Meanwhile, KKR had a terrific start in their resumption of the UAE leg of IPL as they decimated RCB by a thumping margin of nine wickets. Their new recruit Venkatesh Iyer starred for them with the bat and Varun Chakravarthy with the ball. KKR’s wobbly starts during the first half of IPL put pressure on their middle and lower order batters. But with Shubman Gill and Iyer performing well against RCB, KKR management should be happy.

Apart from that, Lockie Ferguson too was more than effective with the new ball and that allowed skipper Eoin Morgan to attack with spinners from one end. KKR should carry the confidence and hopefully put in a similar performance against MI. Although the head-to-head record stands in favour of Mumbai, with MI winning a whopping 21 games as opposed to KKR’s 6.

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Pitch Report

The match is going to be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, a ground where KKR beat RCB while chasing. History also suggests chasing is a good option. 13 times teams have won chasing as opposed to nine when the teams have batted first.  

Playing XI

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Mumbai Indians (MI)

Rohit Sharma/Anmolpreet Singh, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Sourabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Milne.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna.

Key Players

Quinton de Kock

With Rohit Sharma set to return, it would make things a bit easier for Quinton de Kock to attack from word go. Also, the southpaw prefers to play more shots during the powerplay and Ferguson’s extra pace and Prasidh Krishna’s bounce might help QDK score some quick runs. He missed out on the first match against CSK but a class player like De Kock can’t be kept quiet for a long time.

Varun Chakravarthy 

The mystery spinner picked three wickets and gave away just 13 runs against RCB. He was hard to pick by the RCB batters. The pitches over in the UAE suit his style of bowling. Also, Morgan used him smartly in the powerplay and the middle-overs. Traditionally, MI openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock struggle against spinners if they come early. It would be interesting to see what Morgan does with Chakravarthy against MI .

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