Rajasthan Royals (RR) chief mentor has made a statement that the team will be backing Mumbai Indians (MI) when the latter will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in match no. 51 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Dravid said so during an event at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), reported CricketCountry.com. Dravid feels if MI beat KKR then it would be beneficial for his side to make it to the playoff stages of IPL 2015. If MI manage to overcome KKR then the game between RR and KKR will turn out to be a knockout.
The Royals have only one match to play. They have 14 points from 13 matches and are currently placed at the fourth position in the standings of the IPL. The only good thing about them is that the have a positive net run rate which might help them in the near future to edge past the other teams only if they beat KKR in their final match on May 16 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Mumbai Indians have two matches under their belt and they will have to face KKR and the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and these two are strong contenders for a place in the playoffs. It is as simple as that - MI will have to win both their remaining matches in order to give themselves a chance to qualify for the playoff stages of the IPL.
Rajasthan Royals, who started off brilliantly in this edition of the IPL, lost their winning momentum during the middle phase and unfortunately two of their matches were washed out due to rain and they only managed to collect one point from each of those. That made the equations difficult for them. Shane Watson also handed over the captaincy to Steven Smith to focus on his all-round abilities in the middle of the tournament.
