Rohit Sharma is back in his all-time favourite ground. At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Rohit has scored bucketloads of runs. But Rohit has a task on his hands this time, as he has to lead the Mumbai Indians (MI) from the front against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Wednesday.
Mumbai Indians' awful show against the MS Dhoni-led new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants raised a lot of eyebrows. However, it was just the first match of this almost two-month long IPL 2016, even if MI did not look convincing at all.
Head coach Ricky Ponting had stated that he backs Rohit's instincts and decision. Time has come that he pushes in some useful words in Rohit's ears ahead of their second game of IPL 2016, against KKR in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, KKR, as always, have a balanced side. They are definitely a force to reckon with. Recently, their confidence got a major boost as their star bowler from the West Indies, Sunil Narine, joined the squad.
However, it will be interesting to see if KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir opts for Narine over the 45-year old veteran from Australia, Brad Hogg, who was brilliant against the Delhi Daredevils in their first game at the same venue.
Going by Gambhir's instincts, he is unlikely to make any changes to his team. Gambhir is someone who usually stick to a winning combination. The KKR bowlers did extremely well against the Daredevils to bundle them for a meagre total of 98 runs. Australia seamer John Hastings was impressive. He was picked ahead of Morne Morkel, and the big fast bowler is likely to retain his place in the playing XI.
In the other camp, Rohit might just tempted to add an extra all-rounder to the side in the form of Corey Anderson. In that case, Mitchell McClenaghan may have to sit out. Lendl Simmons, Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard are likely to retain their place in the team as well.
Likely playing XI: KKR: Gautam Gambhir (C), Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Andre Russell, Brad Hogg, Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav, John Hastings.
Mumbai Indians: Lendl Simmons, Rohit Sharma (C), Unmukt Chand, Jos Buttler (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah.
