Historically Mumbai Indians have been the dominant force in their Indian Premier League encounters with Kolkata Knight Riders but on Friday, the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit will step into the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as favourites.

In 32 head-to-head meetings between the two sides so far, the MI have ended on the winning sode on 23 occasions, but considering their current form in IPL 2024, MI will have to punch above their weights against a dominant KKR.

Placed second on the IPL 2024 points table, KKR have been a well-oiled unit since the beginning of the campaign. With six wins from nine games, KKR boast of 12 points in their kitty, but will need to win atleast a couple of games to ensure their playoffs spot.

The primary reason behind KKR’s success this season could be attributed to their opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, who has been a destructive force, equipped with all the ammunition to destroy any bowling side.

The rest of their batting order, comprising the likes of Andre Russell, Shreyas Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvangshi, and Rinku Singh have also contributed in them scoring in excess of 200 five times already.

However, KKR still will have areas to work on before they head into the business end, as their bowling unit still lacks the sting with their pace spearhead Mitchell Starc struggling to contain the flow of runs.

The absence of Harshit Rana, banned for a match for breach of code adds to their frustration, and thus will need some strategic change going into Friday’s match. Their spin battery of Narine and Varun Chakravarthy has been right on the money, with the latter fresh from a three-wicket haul in their last outing against Delhi Capitals.

In contrast, five-time champions MI, tottering at the penultimate 9th spot in the standings, are faced with a daunting task to salvage their IPL campaign. Despite commendable performances from their bowling unit, led by the ever-dependable Jasprit Bumrah along with Gerald Coetzee, MI’s batting department hasn’t fired in unison, resulting in a disappointing season thus far.

Barring Tilak Varma and former captain Rohit Sharma’s selfless approach, the rest of the batters have failed to deliver consistently, leaving the team in such a precarious position.

And with the burden of T20 World Cup selection now a thing of the past, the likes of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav will have to pull their socks to get some vaulable runs under their belts. Pandya will also be expected to hit peak bowling form which has so far been missed this season.