Mumbai Indians, who have been blowing hot and cold so far in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016, will be eager to find some stable ground and ride the momentum built following their win against Kings XI Punjab. However, their task is easier said than done as the defending champions, on Thursday (April 28), will be up against Kolkata Knight Riders, who are sitting pretty at the right end of the points table with four wins from five matches, including a hat-trick of away victories.

It has been more than two weeks since these two sides last faced off. In that game, at the Eden Gardens, Mumbai Indians had managed to chase down a target of 188 pretty comfortably. But that was also the only game that Kolkata lost, having subsequently achieved a 100 percent win record while chasing. The Gautam Gambhir-led side will be eager to even the head-to-head for the season, in what will be Mumbai’s final game at the Wankhede stadium before their matches are moved out of Maharashtra.

Since his blistering 84* off 54 deliveries against Kolkata, Rohit Sharma has scored two more half-centuries but was dismissed for a duck in the team’s most recent game against Kings XI Punjab. However, Parthiv Patel and Ambati Rayudu’s performances, in that game, would have pleased Mumbai Indians, as would the fact that Jos Buttler came up with an impressive cameo. The England wicketkeeper-batsman’s form has wavered like the team’s fortunes but Kolkata will be well aware of the damage he did when they last faced off against Mumbai, when he smashed a 22-ball 41.

Krunal Pandya has played some useful hands in the past few games, which comes as a boost for Mumbai, but the same cannot be said of his brother, Hardik Pandya, who has struggled for form with both the bat and the ball. Mumbai will also be slightly concerned with Kieron Pollard’s form as the hard-hitting Trinidadian hasn’t done much apart from a knock of 39* against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Among the bowlers, Mitchell McClenaghan and Jasprit Bumrah have done the bulk of the damage while Tim Southee has been on the mark. However, Harbhajan Singh has been slightly off colour and he will be hoping to make amends.

For the Knight Riders, Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have done most of the scoring, although both failed in their previous match against Rising Pune Supergiants. But Suryakumar Yadav’s well-paced half-century made up for the openers’ rare failure while Yusuf Pathan too spend some valuable time in the middle. Shakib Al Hasan’s batting form is a slight concern for Knight Riders as he has struggled a bit in his past two outings. Kolkata will also be slightly worried with their middle order that still is a bit untested, and considering that it required a six from Umesh Yadav to get the team over the line against Pune, the team will be hoping for more clinical finishes as they attempt to consolidate their position at the top of the table.

In the bowling department, consistent performances from most of the bowlers have ensured that Kolkata have hardly had to face stiff targets. A six-bowler attack has been Gambhir’s preferred option in most of the games, and with the pacers and spinners having complemented each other well, they have ensured that Kolkata’s IPL 2016 campaign been on track. The quicks Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel have done a tidy job, as have spinners Shakib, Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla. Andre Russell too has been amongst the wickets, but his economy is on the higher side. The West Indian is one of two Knight Riders bowlers to have conceded more than nine an over so far in this edition and Kolkata will be hoping that the all-rounder can rectify that.

Mumbai Indians seem to have found the combination that they are likely to persist with for the remainder of IPL. Having gone in with the same eleven for three matches in a row, Mumbai are unlikely to make any changes for this game too, unless last-minute injuries force them to. Jerome Taylor, Lasith Malinga’s replacement, joined the squad on Wednesday but it will be interesting to see if he is drafted into the playing eleven straight away.

For Kolkata Knight Riders, Manish Pandey’s unavailability due to chickenpox means that they are likely to stick to the same team that played against Pune. Suryakumar Yadav, in all likelihood, will feature at number three again and R Sathish, who was Pandey’s replacement for the last game, looks set to play his second game in a row.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians (From): Rohit Sharma(c), Parthiv Patel(w), Ambati Rayudu, Jos Buttler, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee, Jasprit Bumrah, Jerome Taylor, Corey Anderson, Akshay Wakhare, Shreyas Gopal, Vinay Kumar, Marchant de Lange, Siddhesh Lad, Unmukt Chand, Suchith, Nitish Rana, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia, Nathu Singh, Kishore Kamath, Martin Guptill

Kolkata Knight Riders (From): Robin Uthappa(w), Gautam Gambhir(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Rajagopal Sathish, Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Jaydev Unadkat, Chris Lynn, Colin Munro, Sheldon Jackson, Manan Sharma, Jason Holder, Brad Hogg, Kuldeep Yadav, Ankit Rajpoot, Manish Pandey