By IANS,
Port Elizabeth : Both Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians will be desperately looking for a win when they clash at St. George’s Park in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Monday.
After their Super Over loss against Rajasthan Royals, Knight Riders match against Chennai Super Kings was washed out and they had to contend with one point.
The Kolkata team needs to pull up their socks as they have four points from three matches and lying at fifth place in the points table. Their only win have come against Kings XI Punjab through D/L method.
Mumbai Indians,too, have one win from three matches. The beat Chennai Super Kings in the first match and fell short by 24 runs against Deccan Chargers in the last match. Rain forced them to split points with Rajasthan Royals in the second match.
Both Mumbai Indians and Knight Riders need to shore up their batting. Knight Riders skipper Brendon McCullum is totally off-colour and their top-order, other than Chris Gayle, have not fired.
Against Rajasthan Royals, they lost wickets at regular intervals and it was left to Sourav Ganguly to rescue them. The former India captain played a valiant knock and almost saw the game through before faltering in the last over.
Mumbai Indians will look to check the run-flow in the powerplay. Adam Glchrist and Herschelle Gibbs clobbered their bowling attack in the first six over taking close to 10 runs per over.
With Gayle in hot form, Mumbai Indians cannot allow Knight Riders to make a explosive start.
Knight Riders would have to come up with a ploy for Sachin Tendulkar who is in good touch. Veteran Sanath Jayasuriya is also looking to come good.