IPL 2018, MI vs KXIP:5 player battles to look forward to 

#3 Mayank Mankarde v KL Rahul

KL Rahul

The KXIP depend a lot on its opening batsmen and in particular on KL Rahul, who has emerged as their top scorer with a total of 558 runs. More importantly, he is averaging 55.80 and has recorded a brilliant strike rate of 161.73. Needless to say, if he gets going, then he might do short work of the MI bowling attack tonight. That being said, it needs to be pointed out that while he has been imperious against pace bowling, he has not been as good against spin. He has been dismissed 10 times in this season of the IPL and out of those, he has fallen to spin 7 times.

So, MI’s leg-spinner Mayank Markande might just be the man for the job ff MI are to take his wicket early on. The spinner is MI’s highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets and if he is introduced early on, then there is every chance of him troubling Rahul. He has also gone for just over 8 runs an over so far and that shows, he can hold his own against big-hitting batsmen. It is going to be a vital contest and one that could swing the game either way.