Mumbai Indians take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in the second of the two Indian Premier League (IPL) games scheduled for Tuesday. Mumbai are cruising at the top half of the table with 14 points while the defending Champions need a win to keep their hopes alive of making it to the knockouts. The reverse fixture between the two sides in Kolkata ended in a five wicket win for Mumbai, where they scaled a total of 159 with one ball to spare.

Mumbai Indians
Reuters

Where to Watch Live

Play starts at 3.30pm BST. Live telecast will be available on ITV 4 and ITV 4 HD. Follow the match live, via text updates, on ESPN Cricinfo.

Overview

The Mumbai side are favourites to make their way into the knockouts with the team currently in third spot with 14 points, trailing Royal Challengers Bangalore due to an inferior run-rate. Their qualification hopes received a huge boost in their last game against the Chennai Super Kings where they defeated the two time Champions by 60 runs, restricting them to a score of 79, the lowest in the IPL this season.

Rohit Sharma elected to bat and held the innings together with an unbeaten 39 after coming in at five. Useful innings from the likes of Darren Smith (22) and Dinesh Karthik (23) at the top followed by a blitzkrieg from Harbhajan Singh lower down the order took Mumbai to a score of 139. However, the bowlers were the main success story for the Mumbai Indians with Mitchell Johnson and Pragyan Ojha the leading the attack with three wickets each. Mike Hussey was the highest scorer for Chennai with 22 followed by a late cameo by Ravindra Jadeja towards the end, but failed to save Chennai from their ignominy.

However, Mumbai will be wary of their fielding in recent games, with Keiron Pollard the main culprit, dropping Hussey thrice in quick succession, something which could have had an impact on the outcome of the game on a different day. The Mukesh Ambani owned team need a minimum of four points from their remaining five games to all but secure their entry into the knockout stages.

Kolkata have been in abysmal form this season and have paid the price for their inconsistency thus far. Gautam Gambhir's side have failed to live up to the expectations that were vested on them after winning the fifth edition of the IPL. The Knight Riders have managed to win only four of the 11 games thus far and need to win all their remaining five games in order to keep their hopes alive.

The defending Champions are finally finding their feet in the tournament with the Knight Riders convincingly beating the Rajasthan Royals in their last game with eight wickets to spare. Kolkata managed to restrict Rajasthan to a meagre score of 132 and chased the target down with 16 balls to spare. The slower bowlers did the trick for Gambhir, each chipping in with wickets at crucial intervals. The batters did not let the momentum shift in the opposition's favour, with Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan putting in a useful partnership at the bottom to secure what turned out to be an easy victory in the end.

Team Guide

Mumbai Indians

  • Last Five (most recent first): W L W W W
  • Last Result: Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kings by 60 runs.

Kolkata Knight Riders

  • Last Five (most recent first): W L L W L
  • Last Result: The Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Mumbai Indian s by eight wickets.

Team News

Mumbai Indians are expected to persist with the same squad that secured a massive win over Chennai. Lasith Malinga will lead the bowling attack along with Mitchell Johnson while Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh will handle the spin department. Sachin Tendulkar is expected to retain his place in spite of being in indifferent form thus far.

Kolkata may look to bring in Brett Lee to replace Sachithra Senanayake to add some more bite into their attack. The batting line-up is expected to remain the same from the one that started against Rajasthan.