Mumbai Indians (MI) will be up against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the first of the twin IPL 2023 fixtures on Sunday. While MI will be well-rested coming into this game, having played their last match five days ago, KKR have little time to rest as they will play their second match in 48 hours.  

So far, MI have played three matches and have tasted a solitary win. On the other hand, KKR have played four matches, winning two and facing a defeat in the other two. It has been such an evenly fought tournament so far that despite just 2 points differentitating these two sides at this moment, MI are at the ninth position on the tally while KKR are at the fifth place as of now.

Their most recent results though have been contrasting. MI finally picked up their first points on the board, with a last-ball win over DC while KKR lost to SRH after a Harry Brook masterclass. Having said that both sides have some serious issues to resolve in their sides.

For instance, Kolkata’s spinners have been effective but their fast bowling have been one of the worst this season, as the numbers suggest. They have taken the least number of wickets and haven’t been the most economical either. Andre Russell’s fitness will be another area of concern for KKR. 

MI’s quicks haven’t been too impressive either and the sad news for MI fans is that Jofra Archer could miss this game as well. RIley Meredith could continue if Archer fails to regain fitness in time.

All in all, this could be an interesting battle but with home advantage, being well-rested and enjoying a better record at this venue MI could be dubbed as slight favourites before the first ball of the match.

Possible XIs:

MI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Piyush Chawla, Riley Meredith, Jason Behrendoff

KKR: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (captain), Andre Russell/David Wiese, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma.