MI vs KKR highlights, IPL 2021: Tripathi, Iyer hit blazing fifties, KKR blow away MI by 7 wickets in Abu Dhabi

Kolkata Knight Riders win the toss and opt to bowl first against Mumbai Indians. 

The big news is, Rohit Sharma is back as the MI captain.

The relation between former captain Dinesh Karthik and current captain Eoin Morgan has been one of the most noticeable factors in the KKR dressing room. Apart from being explosive middle-order batsmen, the due have another thing in common and that is their tactical brains. Karthik and Morgan form a strong leadership group for KKR but they will have to perform with the bat to help their side reach new heights. 

Two Indian spinners Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy could well decide the outcome of this KKR vs MI clash. Leg-spinner Chahar, is MI's best spinner and he has proved time and again how useful he can be in the middle overs. 

He will have tough competition from KKR's own mystery spinner Chakravarthy. It was Chakravarthy who orchestrated the RCB collapse the other night and if he is on song, the MI line-up can have some difficulties.  

It is a new surface. This is an absolute fast bowlers paradise, isn't it not. Tonight it is going to be a battle of spin, fast bowlers do pick up wickets here and that is because it is a bit grassy with a slow tennis ball kind of bounce. Generally spin is very hard to score at and they take 40 percent of the wickets. The breeze, size of the boundary; some of the reasons for spinners being successful. Batters might have a tough time: Danny Morrison and Matthew Hayden with the pitch report. 

Since 2020 Lockie Ferguson has become more consistent in T20s. Since 2020, he has bowled only 5 wicketless innings out of 25 across T20s. In addition, Ferguson has played 17 T20s out of 77 in Asia with 15 wickets at the average of 33.60. Ferguson also has the economy of 5.37 at Abu Dhabi, which is the best among all 45 bowlers who has bowled 10 or more overs at the venue in IPL.

Good news if you are an MI fan. Rohit Sharma is training on the field, warming up and looks like he is completely fit to take the field against KKR today. This can be a huge boost for Mumbai hours before this crucial encounter. 

Andre Russell's lusty hitting often overshadows the tremendous work he does for KKR with the ball in hand. Take his yorker to AB de Villiers the other night as an example. Russell has been a stalwart for KKR with both bat and ball. He couldn't fire much with the bat in the first half of this IPL but all that could change pretty quickly. 

The stage is set at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi for the MI vs KKR IPL 2021 match no. 34. Are you ready?

Shubman Gill's strike rate was one of the major talking points in first half of IPL 2021 when the young right-hander repeatedly failed to give KKR an explosive start. Things shown signs of improvement as Gill came out all guns blazing in KKR's run-chase against RCB. The way Gill charged down the track to the likes of Kyle Jamieson and Mohammed Siraj, showed that he has come to the UAE with a different mindset. If the right-hander can continue batting in similar fashion against MI and in the remaining matches of KKR, then Eoin Morgan's men will fancy their chances of making it to the playoffs. 

MI's new-ball attack comprising Trent Boult, Adam Milne and Jasprit Bumrah is perhaps one of the strongest ones in the IPL along with Delhi Capitals. Boult has got most wickets in the powerplay in the IPL in last two years and he now has his New Zealand teammate Milne by his side, who can pepper the batters with his pace and bounce. There's no respite for the batsmen after Boult and Milne are done as MI then throw the ball to Jasprit Bumrah, who is currently India's best all-format bowler. 

Opener Venkatesh Iyer had an impressive IPL debut against RCB with his unbeaten 41. But he has been around in the Indian domestic circuit since 2015 and has featured in 39 matches.

Iyer has scored 765 runs from 39 T20s at the average of 38.25 with 2 fifties. But he came into the light after his impressive performance in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2021.

Andre Russell registered his maiden five-wicket haul in the IPL when these two sides last met in the IPL in Chennai. But KKR fail to chase down the 153-run target as MI leg-spinner Rahul Chahar ran through the Knight top-order. Who will have the last laugh today?

Mumbai Indians have the best record against Kolkata Knight Riders. In fact, MI's win percentage of 78.57 is the best by any team against an opponent in the IPL. In the 28 matches that MI and KKR have played, the Mumbai Indians have emerged victorious on a staggering 22 times. KKR have only managed to beat MI six times. The last time Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai was back in 2019. Will that change today? 

That's the question every Mumbai Indians fan must be thinking now. Both Rohit and Hardik are crucial to MI's success. While head coach Mahela Jayawardene did suggest that both players were not included in MI's previous match against CSK as precautionary measures, pacer Trent Boult's comment about Rohit and Hardik's fitness ahead of the KKR encounter did not exude confidence. 

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2021 match in Abu Dhabi. It's always exciting to see these two popular sides go head-to-head and with play-off qualification nearing, the stakes are also high.