The fifth match of the IPL 2020 will see Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) taking on defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) at Abu Dhabi. The MI team has suffered a loss at the hands of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and will be looking for retribution, while KKR will look to repeat the success of 2014 when a part of the tournament was played in UAE and they won the title.
For doing this, both teams need to find their best playing combinations to battle the conditions and the pitch which has been notoriously deceptive. Therefore, Team COC presents to you the Predicted Playing XIs for the Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians match.
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KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS (KKR)
The Kolkata Knight Riders have a lot to prove given that they didn’t manage to make it into playoffs in the last season and had finished fourth in 2018. Dinesh Karthik was named the captain in a revamped looking KKR in 2018, but his captaincy has a left lot to be desired.
However, KKR in IPL 2020 possesses one of the scariest batting lineups with the right mix of aggression and class sprinkled with poor brutality. They let Chris Lynn go ahead of the auction and emptied more than half of their purse on Australia’s Pat Cummins. Therefore they have the option of opening with Shubman Gill and either Sunil Narine or Rahul Tripathi.
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Narine may be the perfect partner for Gill, as he can take advantage of the powerplays, giving Gill time to play himself in. Their middle order is expected to be scary with Nitish Rana possibly at no.3, followed by England’s Eoin Morgan, who is currently one of the best white-ball batsmen. They will be followed by the finishers in captain Karthik and the MVP of IPL 2019 Andre Russell.
Karthik and Russell will be tasked with taking advantage of the death overs and gathering as many runs as possible and winning matches. As for the spinners, KKR is expected to partner Narine with Kuldeep Yadav, who has a lot to prove after a lackluster 2019 season. Rana may be called upon to deliver a few overs if needed.
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The fast bowling contingent may see Pat Cummins leading the charge, supported by either Shivam Mavi or Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Both the 2018 U19 World Cup winners have been backed hard by KKR management. Add Prasidh Krishna to the mix and you have three pacers bowling at well over 140kph consistently.
MUMBAI INDIANS (MI)
The defending champions Mumbai Indians must be smarting from the loss at the hands of CSK in the IPL 2020 opener and Rohit Sharma will be eager to get on the points table with a win over KKR in the upcoming match. Not many changes are expected in MI playing XI for this match, given its only the second match for them.
Their openers failed to give them a good start, though looking at ease and good against CSK and MI will be hoping that Rohit and De Kock take it to the KKR attack right from the start. Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary, who impressed a lot against CSK, will be tasked with keeping the runs flowing in the middle overs.
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Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, and Krunal Pandya must be waiting to use the long handle to hit some big ones, as CSK bowlers were smart in not giving them the opportunity to do so. Krunal would also like to redeem himself after his poor outing with the ball against CSK.
However, MI must look to bowl out Trent Boult before the last five overs begin as his economy is around 11 in the death overs. And Rohit will pray that Jasprit Bumrah finds his mojo again, as with Malinga not playing this season, he is their leader of pace attack. James Pattinson impressed in his maiden outing in IPL but needs to dial up the pace quotient a bit.
KKR COC Predicted Playing XI:
Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik (C&WK), Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna
MI COC Predicted Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, James Pattinson, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
