The second game of the IPL 2011 playoffs will be played on Wednesday, May 25, between the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders.
This is an eliminator and the side going down will be knocked out of the tournament while the team winning this game will get to the semi-finals – or the second qualifier as it is called. The match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Mumbai v Kolkata odds:
The two teams had earlier played only a couple of days ago at the Eden Gardens in a league game. While both sides had already made it to the playoffs then, it was a much more important game for the Knight Riders (13/10 at
Blue Square) because a win for them would have put them in the top two spots and allowed them a second shot at the final. Kolkata lost a game that they should have won 99 times out of 100 with the Mumbai Indians scoring 21 off the final over of the game.
The match may be played at Mumbai’s (4/6 at
BetFred) home, but the pitch has slowed down considerably and that will mean that it will be advantage Kolkata, with their long list of spin bowlers.
Ground and Pitch:
Batting might get difficult as the game progresses and so the best way to approach the innings is to go after the bowling when the ball is new. Once the momentum is earned, it will be difficult for the opposition to take the game away but early wickets will make things difficult for the batting side.
Player News:
The Mumbai Indians will need to rethink their line-up. They had made three changes to their line-up in the previous game with the likes of Andrew Symonds (8/1 at
bet365), Munaf Patel and Dhawal Kulkarni being rested but the sense is that the side will see another revamp.
Symonds’ absence made things difficult for the batting – it shortened the batting and made the Mumbai Indians bat Harbhajan Singh at the number three position. At the same time, the Mumbai Indians are a spinner short and so, playing Ray Price may not be a bad idea but that means that one of Symonds, Kieron Pollard (8/1 at
Boylesports) or James Franklin (17/2 at
bet365) may have to be scuttled.
The Knight Riders will look to go into the game with the same line-up that had played in the last couple of games. The batting did a fine job in getting to the 170 plus score against Mumbai in the previous game, with the aggression shown by each of the top-order batsmen worth replicating.
The good news was that Jacques Kallis (3/1 at
Totesport) seemed to have found his form back, more importantly, he was also able to get three sixes away when the team demanded.
Prediction:
Between the two teams, one senses that the pressure would be more on the Kolkata Knight Riders after the kind of loss they suffered at the hands of Mumbai. The spin-friendly Wankhede should offset that and another thriller awaits us. There hasn’t been a tie in this tournament yet and it could just be a good time for one!