Rohit’s Mumbai eyeing to defeat buoyant KKR

Despite losing their first match in the IPL 2021 to Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians face a problem of plenty.

Their regular opener Quinton de Kock, who had to sit out of the tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as he was serving his quarantine on arrival from South Africa, was back at training on Sunday and will feature in the second match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday.

It means that Chris Lynn, who was MI’s top-scorer in the loss against RCB on April 9, may have to warm the bench as the Proteas wicketkeeper-batsman will likely face the new ball with skipper Rohit Sharma.

“Quinton de Kock is out of his quarantine. He did a practice session yesterday (on Sunday) with the team looking forward to the season. Yes, he will be available for tomorrow’s game,” said MI director of cricketing operations, Zaheer Khan.

“It is a good headache to have. To be lucky and be fortunate to have such a squad where people are waiting for opportunities and pushing each other,” Zaheer added.

MI’s power-packed middle and lower batting failed against some inspired and intelligent bowling from Harshal Patel. But their power-hitting unit comprising the Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard among others batting are too good to fail as a whole twice in a row.

Containing them will be a big challenge for Kolkata Knight Riders who on Sunday scored a close but impressive win over SunRisers Hyderabad.

With their spin bowlers, who they relied on last season, not proving effective in Sunday’s game, MI’s batting could worry Eoin Morgan’s side.

Pat Cummins, who came in as second change, will again hold key for the KKR bowling unit.

An interesting contest will be between Nitish Rana, who top-scored for KKR with 80 (off 56 balls) against SunRisers’ strong bowling unit, and Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.

While Boult is accurate, Bumrah’s pace and bounce can be hot to handle.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Strengths:

• Many power-hitters in the side: Russell, Morgan, DK

• Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathy in good form

Weaknesses:

• Too much dependency on Foreign players

• Fitness issue with many players

MUMBAI INDIANS

Strengths:

• Strong batting order

• Balanced attack of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah

• Mentally a very strong team

Weaknesses:

• Limited options in the spin bowling department