IPL 2021: KKR Win Toss and Field First; Rohit Sharma Returns for MI

Last year in Abu Dhabi in the IPL, KKR lost both their games against MI.

Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik in conversation.

Image: BCCI

Kolkata Knight Riders' captain Eoin Morgan has won the toss and asked Mumbai Indians to bat first in Abu Dhabi. KKR have only 3 wins in the tournament so far while MI have four wins.

Mumbai Indians have Rohit Sharma back in the playing XI. Hardik Pandya isn't in the playing XI either.

KKR have gone in with an unchanged XI from the last game.

Kolkata captain Eoin Morgan has made no changes from the eleven which won against Royal Challengers Bangalore. "Bowling first worked well in the first game. Want to use the same formula. The wicket looks well put together. I think we can't get complacent, sport has a funny way of biting you in the backside if you get ahead of yourself."

Rohit Sharma makes a return for Mumbai Indians, replacing Anmolpreet Singh. "Feeling good. Looking forward to the game. Certain basics of cricket that were missed, we need to do right. We have spoken about it and hopefully, we can execute.

Kolkata Knight Riders began their second half of the campaign of IPL 2021 with a comprehensive 9 wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Going into the game against Mumbai Indians, KKR are 6^th on the table.

Mumbai vs Kolkata matchup in the IPL presents a very one-sided story. In 28 matches between the two teams, Mumbai, IPL winners for five times, have the dominant hand, winning 22 times against Kolkata, the two-time champions.

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna