With two further matches to be played in the Indian Premier on Saturday, the fans are in for plenty of entertainment over the weekend.
Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in a contest featuring two of the better performing sides this season.
The hosts Kolkata Knight Riders have won their last six matches in an ultimate display of consistency. They also managed to top the points table for a while by beating Delhi Daredevils in the last match, and are currently in second place.
In the last match, they chased the target with ease to claim victory by six wickets. The batting duties will yet again largely depend on the top three featuring Brendon McCullum, who scored a half-century, captain Gautam Gambhir, and Jacques Kallis.
Kallis has also been contributing with the ball picking up two wickets in the process while Sunil Narine’s variation continues to remain a mystery for the opposition batsmen.
With 14 points from 13 matches, Mumbai Indians are currently in third place. While a win will not affect their position on the table, they can close the gap on Kolkata and gain firm ground on their qualification for the playoffs.
Their defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore has upset the rhythm somewhat as the batsmen have at times struggled to get their run scoring going. Kieron Pollard will be essential to their chances of success as he hit two sixes in a cameo innings that took the team’s total over 140.
The bowlers had a small total to defend and they could not do much about Chris Gayle’s blitz. However, Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh have been in decent form to give the bowlers some hope of putting up a good show.
The match will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata where a sizable crowd is expected to come to potentially see their home team continue its dream run.