Sky Analysis

Indian T20 League – Kolkata vs Mumbai – Game 5 – Match Preview

Mumbai lived up to the expectations and once again lost their tournament opener. They now need to get serious and aim for a win against Kolkata. Though it’s still early days, you don’t want to lag too far behind in the tournament.

Despite losing their tournament opener to Bangalore, Mumbai will take a lot of confidence from their bowling effort. They posted a below-par total of 159, yet they were able to stay in the match till the final over. Had AB de Villiers not played a blinder, they might have won the game, and that too with ease.

Mumbai’s bowling is their biggest strength. In Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, they have two of the best T20 bowlers going around. Also, the new signing, Marco Jensen was very impressive in his debut. They probably lack some quality in the spin department, but the overall strength of their bowling line up is impeccable.

While batting, they were all set for a big score but a collapse saw them stumble to 159. A lot of batsmen got starts but they couldn’t convert them into big scores. However, the kind of depth and quality they have in their team, they shouldn’t take long before setting those beyond the reach targets.

Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata got off to a brilliant start to Indian T20 league and defeated Hyderabad by 10 runs. Nitish Rana is an integral member of this Kolkata setup and the franchise will be delighted to see him score runs. Rahul Tripathi also played a very impressive knock. However, Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell once again couldn’t make an impact. Kolkata need them to get back to form as quickly as possible. 

Kolkata was very impressive with the ball as everyone apart from Varun Chakravarthy and Harbhajan Singh picked up wickets. Harbhajan bowled just one over in the match which shows that the skipper lacks confidence in him. Morgan might consider swapping him with possibly Kuldeep Yadav or Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

Pitch Report – The match will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The surface won’t be the easiest to bat due to its slow nature but once you get used to its pace, plenty of runs will be on offer.

Team News

Kolkata

Kolkata played Shakib Al Hasan ahead of Sunil Narine and should stick with him for the next game. Harbhajan Singh bowled only one over in the game and maybe left out for possibly Kuldeep Yadav or Pawan Negi. Morgan could also think about bringing Kamlesh Nagarkoti

Probable XI – Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy

Mumbai

Team News

Zaheer Khan has confirmed that Quinton de Kock will be available for selection against KKR. However, Mumbai have a tough call to make as Chris Lynn had a brilliant game against Hyderabad.

Probable XI

Rohit Sharma (c), Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Marco Jansen, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah