IPL 2018, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians: KKR opt to field

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and elected to bowl against Mumbai Indians (MI) at Eden Gardens here on Wednesday. (KKR vs MI IPL 2018 UPDATES)

KKR will miss Shubman Gill who, skipper Dinesh Karthik said is injured without elaborating on the nature of injury, and have replaced Mitchell Johnson with Tom Curran. MI will play the same team that beat KKR in Mumbai on Sunday. Gill was replaced by Rinku Singh. (KKR vs MI IPL 2018 SCORES)

For KKR, beating MI needs to not be mission impossible if they are to lessen suffering while chasing a play-off berth. If it’s any consolation, they will still be in the mix even if they lose this match, For, MI defeat isn’t really an option worth considering given that they have already lost six of their previous 10 games. That is one more than KKR going into what will be the 11th match for both teams.

Crucial to MI having another successful night at Eden Gardens would be how well they understand the conditions here which would be a lot different from Wankhede Stadium where they beat KKR on Sunday. MI altered their length on Sunday bowling short and it will have to be seen whether they do a repeat here. MI also bowled with a lot of discipline at the back-end after Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana looked to taking KKR to an easy win on the road.

KKR have struggled to replicate that kind of discipline especially with their fast bowlers. Mitchell Johnson has been their Achilles heel, having lost his pace and looking to be unable to compensate for that with variety and consistency. It has also contributed to KKR not being able win three games in a row this season. Reason enough why the former Australia ace who once made England blink with sheer pace was overlooked on Wednesday.