Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on the defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. KKR, under Dinesh Karthik, will to get their campaign underway with a win while Mumbai Indians, who lost their opening game against Chennai Super Kings, will look for an improve overall show. Both teams have been involved in some epic games over the past few years but it is the Mumbai Indians who enjoy a healthy overall lead over the Kolkata-based franchise.
Both teams have faced each other 25 times in the IPL and Mumbai Indians have come out on top 19 times while KKR have just six wins to their name.
Head To Head Match Stats
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vs Mumbai Indians (MI)
Matches: 25
Mumbai Indians Won: 19
KKR Won: 6
In their last meeting, Mumbai Indians dominated KKR and registered a comfortable nine-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium.
For KKR, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine are coming fresh after performing well in the recently-concluded Caribbean Premier League and that might favour the Dinesh Karthik-led side as they take the field against the defending champions in Abu Dhabi.
KKR, who have won the IPL title twice, have invested heavily in Australia fast-bowler Pat Cummins this season.
Cummins became the most expensive overseas buy in IPL history when KKR roped him in for a whopping Rs 15.5 crore last year during the annual player auction.
For Mumbai, James Pattinson, who came in as a replacement for Lasith Malinga, bowled well but because their batsmen failed in the opening game, Rohit Sharma might be tempted to include Nathan Coulter-Nile to give his side a better balance.