IPL will see the last third of the season go underway as Mumbai Indians will face Kolkata Knight Riders on 3rd May at the Wankhede stadium. Kolkata is sitting at the 2nd position while Mumbai is struggling at no. 9 with very slim chances of qualifying for the playoffs. The match will start at 8:00 PM BST.
Schedule of MI vs KKR Match in IPL 2024
Table: Schedule of MI vs KKR
| Match | Date | Time | Venue |
| 51 | Friday, May 3, 2024 | 8:00 P.M BST | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai |
Preview of Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024 (51st Match)
Historically this fixture is dominated by Mumbai Indians. But this time Kolkata Knight Riders will step on the ground as favorites. They have been a well-functioning side since the beginning of the campaign. The opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine have been performing great. Their destructive opening partnerships along with quick-fire innings from the likes of Andre Russell, Shryeash Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvangshi, and Rinku Singh have helped KKR score 200+ five times already. Wankhede is known for high-scoring encounters and this core of batters will fancy their chances here as well.
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Mumbai Indians on the other hand has been struggling with only three wins from 10 games this season. Their bowling has been disappointing beyond expectations and has been failing the batters all season. They conceded 200+ four times and 250+ two times this season. Although the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee have been doing their part being the highest and 4th highest wicket-takers of this season respectively. Yet it is proving to be nowhere near enough. Their key players like Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, etc. have been performing below their usual level.
MI vs KKR H2H Records So Far
Table: Head-to-head records between Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders
| Total Matches | MI Win | KKR Win | Tie/NR |
| 32 | 23 | 9 | 0 |
MI vs KKR H2H at Wankhede So Far
Table: Head-to-head records between Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede
| Total Matches | MI Win | KKR Win | Tie/NR |
| 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
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Mumbai Indians Squad
Table: List of players of the Mumbai Indians Team
| Players | Role |
| Hardik Pandya © | Allrounder |
| Dewald Brevis | Batting Allrounder |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Bowler |
| Piyush Chawla | Bowling Allrounder |
| Gerald Coetzee | Bowler |
| Tim David | Middle Order Batter |
| Harvik Desai | Wicketkeeper Batter |
| Shreyas Gopal | Allrounder |
| Ishan Kishan | Wicketkeeper Batter |
| Anshul Kamboj | Allrounder |
| Kumar Kartikeya | Bowler |
| Akash Madhwal | Bowler |
| Kwena Maphaka | Bowler |
| Mohammad Nabi | Allrounder |
| Shams Mulani | Allrounder |
| Naman Dhir | Top Order Batter |
| Shivalik Sharma | Batter |
| Rohit Sharma | Top Order Batter |
| Romario Shepherd | Bowling Allrounder |
| Arjun Tendulkar | Bowler |
| Nuwan Thushara | Bowler |
| Tilak Verma | Batting Allrounder |
| Nehal Wadhera | Top Order Batter |
| Luke Wood | Bowler |
| Suryakumar Yadav | Batter |
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Kolkata Knight Riders Squad
Table: Players list of Kolkata Knight Riders Team
| Players | Role |
| Shreyas Iyer © | Top Order Batter |
| Vaibhav Arora | Bowler |
| Srikar Bharat | Wicketkeeper Batter |
| Dushmantha Chameera | Bowler |
| AM Ghazanfar | Bowler |
| Harshit Rana | Bowler |
| Venkatesh Iyer | Allrounder |
| Sunil Narine | Bowling Allrounder |
| Manish Pandey | Top Order Batter |
| Angkrish Raghuvanshi | Top Order Batter |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Wicketkeeper Batter |
| Ramandeep Singh | Middle Order Batter |
| Nitish Rana | Middle Order Batter |
| Anukul Roy | Allrounder |
| Andre Russell | Allrounder |
| Sherfane Rutherford | Middle Order Batter |
| Chetan Sakariya | Bowler |
| Sakib Hussain | Bowler |
| Phil Salt | Wicketkeeper Batter |
| Rinku Singh | Middle Order Batter |
| Mitchell Starc | Bowler |
| Suyash Sharma | Bowler |
| Varun Chakravarthy | Bowler |
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Key Players to Watch in the MI Squad
Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah has been one of the only constants of Mumbai Indians this year. He is the highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets currently. 9 of them came from the three matches MI won with an economy of 5.33 only. It is evident how much Bumrah needs to shine for MI to win.
Tilak Varma
Tilak Varma has been arguably the best batter of MI this season. He is the highest run-scorer for Mumbai with 343 runs from 10 games averaging 42.87 and striking at 153.81. He also played 3 50+ innings and is the only entrant from Mumbai in the top 10 run-scorer list.
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Key Players to watch in the KKR Squad
Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine has rediscovered himself in this IPL. The legend of this tournament has found a new life with the bat in hand. He is the 2nd highest run-scorer of KKR with 372 runs striking at a mammoth rate of 181. He also has a century as well. He also picked up 11 wickets with the bowl making him the most impactful player of this KKR side.
Phil Salt
Phil Salt is KKR’s other destructive opener who scored 392 runs and kept a strike rate of 180.64. He has four fifties which is joint most this season. His opening partnership with Narine has decided many games for KKR this season and it shouldn’t be anything different this time as well.
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Final Words
According to statistics Mumbai Indians dominate over Kolkata Knight Riders. However, the situation is different in IPL 2024 where KKR and MI are holding rank 2 and 9 respectively so far.
MI cannot afford to lose any game now if they wish to qualify for the playoffs. On the other hand, KKR will look to strengthen their position at the top of the table with a win in this game.
Therefore, it can be said that it will be challenging for Mumbai Indians to win against a well-polished opponent like Kolkata Knight Riders in the 51st match of the IPL 2024 tournament.
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