Kolkata Knight Riders’s belligerent batsman would want to show India captain and Mumbai Indians stalwart Rohit Sharma why he ought to have been in the Twenty20 World Cup-bound team
Mumbai Indians’s Rohit Sharma with Kolkata Knight Riders batter Rinku Singh during a practice session at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Pic/PTI
There are no prizes for guessing which captain will be under more pressure tonight when Mumbai Indians (MI) take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium.
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MI down in points
The hosts are languishing at the bottom half of the points table with six points, while Kolkata Knight Riders have double that quantity in their kitty. One side are led by a player (Hardik Pandya) who has been much vilified while his rival captain (Shreyas Iyer) has nothing to lose now that he is not part of India’s T20 World Cup squad.
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Romario Shepherd during Mumbai Indians’s practice session at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble
All-rounder Romario Shepherd, who helped MI to beat Delhi Capitals by 29 runs with a 10-ball 39 not out at the same ground last month, wants his team to give their best to see off, KKR. “Hopefully, we can get all the wickets because we see how dangerous those two guys [Phil Salt and Sunil Narine] can be. They are very, very dangerous and can hit the ball for six anywhere in the park. Our bowlers have to be on the A game because these guys put pressure on from ball one,” Shepherd said during the pre-match press conference on Thursday.
Salt can be tasty again
KKR’s opening pair of Salt (392 runs in nine games) and Narine (372) are in fine form and may pose a big challenge for the MI attack led by Jasprit Bumrah. Mumbai boy Iyer (251 runs) who is very familiar with the Wankhede pitch and outfield, will also be a major threat along with Andre Russell (179 runs). The KKR team has a player who could well be smarting from his T20 World Cup exclusion—Rinku Singh. Mumbai had better watch out.
Phil Salt of Kolkata Knight Riders in the nets at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble
For MI, only Tilak Varma and Rohit Sharma have scored 300-plus runs in this edition. T20 World Cup team-bound Suryakumar Yadav and skipper Pandya have managed 197 and 176 runs respectively. But if speedsters Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee, who have claimed 14 and 13 wickets respectively in the tournament, perform as per expectations, Kolkata could be at the receiving end.
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