Upbeat after their comprehensive 60-run victory over table-toppers Chennai Super Kings, a confident Mumbai Indians will be eager to further brighten their play-off prospects with yet another win, over holders Kolkata Knight Riders in their Pepsi IPL game here tomorrow.
Mumbai’s fifth victory in as many games at the Wankhede Stadium, which has proved to be an insurmountable hurdle for visiting teams this season, boosted their points tally to 14 ahead of their 12th round match against the Knight Riders who are languishing in the bottom half of the table with 8 points from 11 matches.
It’s going to be a daunting task for Kolkata and the clinical dissection of Rajasthan Royals in their previous home game is just the shot in the arm the Gautam Gambhir-led side needed ahead of this huge challenge.
The visitors’ hope of making it to the knock-out phase is hanging by a thread and the head to head record against Mumbai – 2 wins against 9 losses – is also not inspiring.
But the defending champions can take heart from the fact that when the two teams met here last year, it was Kolkata who emerged victorious.
Post-match there was a ruckus between KKR’s joint owner Shah Rukh Khan and the Mumbai Cricket Association officials that led to the association imposing a five-year ban on the Bollywood actor from entering the ground.
MCA officials have been insisting the ban stands and he cannot come and egg on his team at the stadium tomorrow.
The Knight Riders’ top-order batting has waxed and waned in IPL-6. None signifies this aspect better than captain Gambhir who started off with three half centuries in their first four games and has since struggled to get going.
Though Gambhir is still the top scorer for his side with 320 runs, his poor run with the bat after the great beginning has put pressure on the latter order batsmen. Even the ever-dependable Jacques Kallis (219 runs) has not been consistent.