16th April; UAE - Finally the much anticipated day has arrived; IPL’s seventh edition will start in a grand fashion, as giants on are hunt. The defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on 2012 winners Kolkata knight Riders (KKR) at Sheikh Zayed stadium, Abu Dhabi today.
MI will try to carry the momentum from the last year’s success of IPL and Champions league T-20, while the KKR would like to start on a winning note.
Mumbai will rely heavily on their batting department. All eyes will be on inform batsman Rohit Sharma and West Indian batsman Kirone Pollard. Bowling department will revolve around Sri Lankan Pace bowler Lasith Malinga
For KKR, skipper Gautam Gambhir, Yausuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate lead the batting front whereas West Indian off spinner Sunil Narain will hold the key in bowling.
The stats are in favor of MI, as in last 12 meetings they have won 10 times.
Teams
Mumbai Squad:
Local Players: Rohit Sharma (capt), Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Pragyan Ojha, Aditya Tare (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Jalaj Saxena, Pawan Suyal, Sushant Marathe (wk), Zaheer Khan, C.M Gautham (wk), Apoorv Wankhade, Shreyas Gopal
Foreign Players: Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Michael Hussey, Corey Anderson, Josh Hazlewood, Marchant de Lange, Krishmar Santokie, Ben Dunk (wk)
Kolkata Squad:
Local Players: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Manvinder Bisla (wk), , Debabrata Das, Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Sayan Mondal, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Yusuf Pathan
Foreign Players: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Jacques Kallis, Andre Russell, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al-Hassan, Morne Morkel, Pat Cummins
Cricketnmore team/Gurucharan singh