KKR v MI Prediction: Who will win today's IPL 2020 match

Game 5 of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) season sees the action move back to Abu Dhabi after the Mumbai Indians fell to the Chennai Super Kings on MS Dhoni’s return to cricket.

Although their openers got off to the best possible start, the Mumbai Indians were unable to capitalise and ended up being restricted to a still-competitive 162. The bowlers, in response, started off by dismissing both the Mumbai openers in the first two overs.

Again, it was not to be though. Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis would go on to stabilise the innings, and the Super Kings would chase down the target with nearly an over to spare. The defending champions will take the field tonight to right Saturday’s wrong.

On the other hand, tonight’s game will be the first that the Dinesh Karthik-led Kolkata Knight Riders will play this season. Heavily touted to improve on their fifth-placed finish in last season’s IPL, the big hitters of the Kolkata-based franchise will want to kick-start their campaign on a positive note.

Click here to see IPL points table 2020.

---

IPL 2020: KKR v MI match prediction

Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah are currently ranked first and second in the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers

With the kind of firepower that these two teams boast of, one can always expect a mouth-watering clash of big-hitters whenever they face off. The match-up between these two teams in Kolkata during IPL 2019 exemplified just that, with Andre Russell and Hardik Pandya sending the ball over the ropes at will throughout the game.

The UAE, however, comes with a set of different challenges. The grounds are bigger, and the pitches are not as batter-friendly. However, with the likes of Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan, Kieron Pollard, Russell and the Pandya brothers lining up on either side of the clash, we could still see the ball fly to different parts of the ground.

While Kolkata’s batting firepower can make any team go green with envy, their Indian fast-bowling line up leaves a lot to be desired. The lack of an experienced Indian pacer in the line-up could cause problems for KKR as the tournament wears on.

Meanwhile, MI seem to be a much more well-rounded team with players who can both rotate the strike and employ the long handle scattered across their batting order. Their bowling seems just as settled as well, with some of the world’s best limited-overs fast bowlers supported by the likes of Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar.

The team’s all-round abilities could see the scales tipped ever so slightly in MI's favour, and that could see Rohit Sharma’s men take home their first win of IPL 2020.