The defending champions of Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on former champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the opening encounter of IPL 2015 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday. Mumbai Indians in IPL 2015: Rohit Sharma’s men approach upcoming season with renewed vigour to regain lost glory
KKR are an enigmatic side, with some powerful overseas names like Shakib Al Hasan, Morne Morkel, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ryan ten Doeschate, and Pat Cummins. They also have a bunch of efficient Indian players like Robin Uthappa — winner of the orange cap in 2014 — Gautam Gambhir, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, and the exciting Kuldeep Yadav. Gambhir has led the side well, and will remain the driving force behind KKR. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2015, Preview: A well-balanced unit with a hunger for success
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma has done well with MI. The turnaround Mumbai saw after losing their first five games in 2014 is nothing short of outstanding. From the bottom of the table, they stormed into the final four with a mind-numbing victory over Rajasthan Royals in a crucial match, thereby knocking the Royals out and inducing a rare show of anger from Rahul Dravid. IPL 2015: Top 5 ICC Cricket World Cup successes to watch out
Rohit will rely on the services of his seasoned veterans Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, and Kieron Pollard. The batting too has been bolstered with the inclusion of Aaron Finch. In Vinay Kumar, Mumbai have a canny operator who has a knack of taking big wickets. Vinay will be facing his own teammates from last year, and will likely have a few tricks up his sleeve. IPL 2015: Top 10 veterans who have done consistently well since IPL 2008
Both sides have players who did well in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. From the KKR camp, Umesh was India’s leading wicket-taker, Russell did his reputation no harm, and Morkel was excellent as usual. Pat Cummins was fast but a tad wayward, while Shakib failed to recreate his usual magic. IPL 2015: CSK, KKR, RCB, KXIP, MI, RR, SRH, DD full team details in IPL 8
Conversely, Rohit was solid for India at the top of the order, while Anderson proved to be a crucial cog in New Zealand’s campaign. Though Finch was a bit of a flop, he started off the World Cup with a ton, while Josh Hazlewood was accurate throughout. Given that Pollard was controversially dropped from the West Indies’ squad prior to the World Cup, he will have a lot of motivation to prove the selectors incorrect.
The weather has not been too encouraging in Kolkata, with thunderstorms threatening to play spoil-sport at the tournament opener. If all goes well and the match is played though, it promises to be a cracking start to what should be another thrilling season of IPL. IPL 2015 Previews
Squads:
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Gautam Gambhir (c), Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Kuldeep Yadav, Morne Morkel, Azhar Mahmood, Johan Botha, KC Cariappa, Piyush Chawla, Pat Cummins, Aditya Garhwal, Brad Hogg, Sheldon Jackson, Sumit Narwal, Veer Pratap Singh, Vaibhav Rawal, Suryakumar Yadav.
Mumbai Indians (MI): Rohit Sharma (c), Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Lendl Simmons, Vinay Kumar, Corey Anderson, Aiden Blizzard, Jasprit Bumrah, Aditya Tare, Pawan Suyal, Mitchell McClenaghan, Marchant de Lange, Unmukt Chand, Aaron Finch, Parthiv Patel, Siddhesh Lad, Abhimanyu Mithun, Shreyas Gopal, Josh Hazlewood, Pragyan Ojha, Hardik Pandya, J Suchith, Akshay Wakhare, Nitish Rana.
Time: 20:00 IST
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and Cricket fanatic. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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