Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL Tips: Indians bad favs at home

Mumbai Indians v KKR
Monday 31 March, 15:00
TV: live on Sky Sports

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL team news

Mumbai Indians have lost two from two. They desperately need Jasprit Bumrah back in the ranks but there is not even a timeline of availability yet for the pacer as he continues his recovery from a back injury. 

Defeat by Gujarat on Saturday was another chastening one. They failed to get up in a chase of 197, losing their way after a reasonably solid platform. The innings from Hardik Pandya of 11 from 17 will come under scrutiny. Will Jacks was dropped for Mujeeb ur Rahman. This meant Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav were in their proper batting positions. Robin Minz is the batting sub for Satyan Raju.

Possible MI XI: Rohit, Rickleton, Tilak, Sky, Minz (Raju sub), Hardik, Dhir, Santner, Mujeeb, Deepak, Boult

KKR looked to be back on track after defeat by RCB with a win over Royals. It could be that they have played the best and worst teams respectively so far. This makes it hard to call where they are as a unit.

Sunil Narine could be fit again after illness kept him out of that game. It would be harsh to drop Moeen Ali given his bowling performance but he didn't give KKR what they needed in the opening role. Angkrish Raghuvanshi will sub in and out for spinner Varun Chakravarthy or pacer Vaibhav Arora.

Possible KKR XI: Narine, De Kock, Rahne, Venktaesh, Rinku Ranghuvanshir (Varun sub), Russell, Ramandeep, Harshit, johnson, Arora

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL pitch report

We're expecting another high 20-over line for the Wankhede. We may have to pay late 190s to go overs. How often would, say 195.5, overs have won in the last two IPL seasons? Well, it's nine of the last 14. That doesn't include two head-to-heads between these two, however. Runs are often easy to come by because of short boundaries as well as a decent batting surface. There can be joy early on for the pacers, though, with seam and swing not unusual.

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL match prediction 

Mumbai Indians are surprising odds-on favourites for this one. The Exchange has them no better than 1.814/5. On form and confidence KKR deserve more respect than the 2.206/5.

The hosts have plenty of problems, not forgetting the Bumrah absence. Rohit Sharma is just not the threat he was, Ryan Rickleton is struggling to adapt and there is plenty of pressure on Mujeeb ur Rahman and Mitch Santner to prove that they can squeeze sides at this level.

It will be a major concern that the batting has flopped horribly twice. Mumbai are likely to be desperate to bat first to try and find some momentum. This should at least be a choice affair but no-one would raise an eyebrow if it was the visitors who were the favourites. 

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL Exchange strategy 

There is a historic bias for the chaser at the Wankhede. It stands at 57% and can inform an Exchange strategy. We don't have huge faith in Mumbai's batting getting up so we will keep fingers crossed that they bat first. They could be capable of posting something challenging enough to get an uptick on those KKR odds by the break.

KKR, also historically, have been nerveless in the chase. They have won nine of their last 13 when asked to go after a total. 

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders IPL player bets

Venkatesh Iyer has a tremendous record against Mumbai. He averages 74 with a strike rate of 165. The 5/16.00 that is available for him to top score has to be of interest. He has had oen blank this term (it is a bit concerning he looked scratchy) and was unsused against Royals. But prior to this season he had a two-year win rate of 31%. 

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