IPL 2016 : Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians today's match prediction, probable playing XI, match time

The Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians will face off against each other in match 5 of the VIVO IPL 2016 at 8 PM (IST) today. After a dismal performance against debutants the Rising Pune Supergiants, the Mumbai Indians will be looking to get their campaign back on track.

The Knight Riders, on the other hand, will be looking to notch up their second straight win this IPL season, after comprehensively beating the Delhi Daredevils in their opening encounter. Sunil Narine’s return from the Caribbean will also be an added factor to their strong bowling line-up which has already created a mark in the tournament, after an exemplary bowling performance against a young Delhi line-up.

In the opener, Mumbai were completely outsmarted by the Pune bowling attack, who took timely wickets to dry the run-flow. Throughout the innings, Mumbai’s luck with the first ball of an over ran out. During four occasions the Mumbai team lost four wickets with the first ball of an over.

The steady fall of wickets hampered the Mumbai innings as only three batsman crossed single digit scores, with two batsmen in Vinay Kumar and Harbhajan Singh, who are better known for their bowling skills. Harbhajan’s cameo (45 runs off 30 balls) was the only saving grace in an innings which lost it’s way once the top order was wiped out. The bowling also looked pale with the only wicket claimed by offie Harbhajan Singh, with the other bowlers being smashed all over the park.

Kolkata, on the other hand, played sensible cricket against a slightly inexperienced Delhi Daredevils squad to decimate them by nine wickets. The bowlers did the job for skipper Gautam Gambhir to take all 10 wickets on the day following which the opening combination of Uthappa and Gambhir stitched a partnership of 69 to take KKR to safe shores. Manish Pandey applied the finishing touches to help the team gain 2 points and top the leaderboard.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Mumbai Indians 2016: Match details

Match date: 13 April 2016, Wednesday.

Match time: 20.00 IST, 14.30 GMT.

Match venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Match prediction:

If recent form was anything to go by, then the Kolkata Knight Riders are the frontrunners to end up on the winning side in today’s encounter. Seeing Mumbai’s obvious struggles against the moving ball, Andre Russell and John Hastings will be licking their lips in anticipation of some assistance from the Eden Gardens pitch to trouble the Mumbai batsmen yet again.

However, bowling to the Mumbai line-up will be a different ball game altogether when compared to bowling to the Delhi Daredevils. While Delhi had just South African Quinton De Kock as an experienced player in the top order, Mumbai presents a much more settled and experienced batting order. Rohit Sharma, Lendl Simmons, big-hitting Jos Buttler and a few all-rounders in Pollard, Hardik Pandya who have all tasted international success and will be looking to go big after a batting failure in Wankhede.

With Sunil Narine joining the Kolkata squad, there can be much more expected from the bowling line-up. The batting order of KKR looks settled at the top with Uthappa and Gambhir joining forces in the first match and Manish Pandey also getting a look-in. However, the middle order’s consistency will have to be assessed, with the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav not having performed consistently in the past. If Mumbai get past the top three, then it will be an interesting match-up between the KKR middle, lower-middle order and the Mumbai bowlers.

However, there will be mini-battles in the game with superstar names adorning both sides. Russell vs Simmons, Narine vs Pollard, Bumrah vs Uthappa. With the crowd cheering the Knights upon their current form, Kolkata might just have an upper hand before the start of the match, which could well go down to the wire.

Teams (Predicted XI):

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Gautam Gambhir (Captain), Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Colin Munro, Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, John Hastings, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav.

Mumbai Indians:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Lendl Simmons, Jos Buttler (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Vinay Kumar, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah.