IPL 2022: With Suryakumar Yadav back, winless Mumbai Indians hopeful vs KKR

Mumbai Indians might be habituated to slow starts in the IPL by now. The five-time champions have lost their first games, of the season, for a decade. In 2022, the Paltan has already faced defeat in two and now will try to get their campaign back on track when they face the Kolkata Knight Riders at the MCA Stadium, Pune on Wednesday. 

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Rohit Sharma and co will be hoping to see their batting mainstay Suryakumar Yadav to pick up from where he left last year. The 31-year-old has scored 317 runs last season. He comes to the side after recovering from a finger injury but it remains to be seen whether he plays or not with the skipper remaining non-committal about his availability.

MI lost their first game against the Delhi Capitals by four wickets. They were then outplayed by the Rajasthan Royals, who defeated them by 23 runs. Sharma, who has a brilliant record against KKR, will want the team to bounce back and get their first points of the season. 

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On the other hand, the Kolkata Knight Riders have won two of their three games this season. Shreyas Iyer’s men come  into the game after beating Punjab Kings by six wickets.

Their strength lies in the all-round services of Andre Russell. The West Indies displayed his six-hitting prowess against Punjab.  But their top-order, comprising Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer, faltered against Punjab and the duo would want to give the side a good start.

Pacer Umesh Yadav has been in some form and could disturb the MI batters with the new ball. 

Mumbai have won 22 times against KKR, while KKR has been victorious only seven times, and they would want to add a win to their tally.

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Teams (From): Kolkata Knight Riders: Aaron Finch, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Baba Indrajith, Nitish Rana, Pratham Singh, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ashok Sharma, Pat Cummins, Rasikh Dar, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Aman Khan, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohammed Nabi, Ramesh Kumar, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Anmolpreet Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Ramandeep Singh, SuryakumarYadav, Tilak Verma, Tim David, Arjun Tendulkar, Basil Thampi, Hrithik Shokeen, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin, Riley Meredith, Tymal Mills, Arshad Khan, Daniel Sams, Dewald Brevis, Fabian Allen, Kieron Pollard, Sanjay Yadav, Aryan Juyal and Ishan Kishan.

Match starts at 7.30 PM