This article will talk about the probable XIs for both teams and continue with the Dream11 predictions and the winning fantasy team for the 34th game of the IPL 2021 between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians that is scheduled to take place on the 23rd of September 2021.
Kolkata Knight Riders who moved up to the 5th position after a convincing win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore will now take on the defending Mumbai Indians who are in the 4th spot after 8 games. The last time these 2 sides met was at Chepauk and it was the Mumbai Indians who continued their dominating run over the Knight Riders by defeating them by a margin of 10 runs.
Mumbai Indians who missed Rohit Sharma in the 1st game post resumption came up short against the Chennai Super Kings by 20 runs. Bowling first, they allowed the Super Kings to score 156/7 after having them effectively at 24/5 in the powerplays. But the late overs proved costly and the chase became too steep as the wickets kept falling. Only Sourabh Tiwary scored a significant score of 50 as they could manage only 136. This is their 4th loss in 4 games.
In contrast, the Knight Riders made a stunning start in the UAE leg of the tournament by winning their game against the Challengers in a dominating fashion by 9 wickets with 10 overs to spare. They bowled out a strong RCB batting line-up to just 92 with Varun Chakravarthy picking 3/13 while Russell, and other pacers doing their part. The openers Shubman Gill(48), and debutant Venkatesh Iyer(43*) finishing off the chase in a canter.
Match Details
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Pitch and Weather: It will be a true batting surface in the early part of the competition and we saw it in the 1st game as well. The pitch got better to bat on as the innings proceeded and the average score is likely to be between 160-170. Pacers might get some assistance with the new ball, while spinners also will be handy. The weather is likely to be sunny with the temperature touching to the late 30s even though it is a 6.00 PM start.
Date & Time: September 23, 6.00 PM Local time, 7.30 PM IST
Probable Playing XIs
Mumbai Indians will hope to have all their star batsmen available and would want the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, De Kock to come good unlike last game. Rohit who had a dream Test series in England missed the last game and is likely to be fit for this clash, while Hardik Pandya’s availability is unknown. Bowlers did get a beating towards the end of the innings but it was largely good.
Kolkata Knight Riders had a perfect match with each of the boxes getting ticked. First, the bowlers were on the mark to bowl out the Challengers for 92. It got even better as for the first time in this IPL, their openers got a significant and blistering start with the likes of Gill, Iyer giving an impression of themselves. They will go in with the same side.
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma(C), Quinton De Kock(WK), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
Kolkata Knight Riders
Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(C), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(WK), Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna
Match Prediction
Mumbai Indians will be favorites to continue their dominance over the Kolkata Knight Riders, having won 22 of the 28 games played between them.
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Fantasy Tips
Batsmen: Suryakumar Yadav of Mumbai Indians has become one of their mainstays in the batting order and is an obvious pick in the dream 11 despite not scoring much in the last game. Kieron Pollard was in amazing touch in the recent CPL and looked good in his brief stay last game. Rohit Sharma may return to the side and is an automatic pick after having a dream England tour. Shubman Gill started the UAE leg with an attractive 48 against RCB.
Wicket-Keeper: Quinton De Kock can be the lone wicket-keeper of the side. As a batsman, De Kock has been in sensational form in the T20s in recent months.
All-rounders: Venkatesh Iyer who came at the top of the order for KKR can be selected and he is also known to bowl as well. Along with him, Andre Russell is the 2nd all-rounder of the side. He picked 3 wickets in the last game.
Bowlers: Varun Chakravarthy who picked 3 wickets in the previous outing at the same venue is the 1st choice. Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult picked 2 wickets each in the game, so they are a great pick along with KKR’s pacer Lockie Ferguson.
Captaincy Choices
Fantasy Team: Quinton De Kock, Rohit Sharma(C), Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell(VC), Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Varun Chakravarthy, and Lockie Ferguson
Captain – Rohit Sharma
The Mumbai Indians skipper has an awesome record against the Kolkata Knight Riders. So he is the best pick to be the captain of the fantasy team.
Vice-Captain – Andre Russell
The hard-hitting batsman and a useful bowler already made an impact with the ball last game picking 3 wickets.
Dream11 Team
