IPL 2021: The one change MI should make to win against KKR
5-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians started off their IPL campaign with a loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore. They will next face Kolkata Knight Riders in their second match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders will be ecstatic after their 10-run victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the third match of the IPL 2021. Swashbuckling knocks from two uncapped Indians - Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi - gave KKR a nice platform to build on for the death overs. Dinesh Karthik's quickfire cameo of 22* runs from 9 balls further boosted KKR's total.
On a slow turning track in Chennai, KKR notched up 187 runs which put the Sunrisers Hyderabad under pressure from ball one in the second innings. Losing their captain David Warner early on did not do SRH any favors.
An impressive partnership between Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow gave SRH some hope but Pat Cummins dismissed such a chance by removing Bairstow in the middle overs.
A good bit of bowling at the end from Russell meant that KKR fired on all cylinders and won their first IPL 2021 match comfortably.
Mumbai Indians will be wary of the threat possessed by KKR and could make some changes to their line-up. On that note, let's take a look at the changes MI need to make to win against KKR.
#1 Piyush Chawla in for Rahul Chahar for MI in IPL 2021
Rahul Chahar, the 21-year-old leg spinner had a very dismal outing against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was smacked away for runs and he wasn't able to make use of the turning track in Chennai. He gave away as many as 43 runs from 4 overs at an economy rate of 10.75 runs per over and went wicketless. His line and lengths were too short and the RCB batsmen had no difficulty in clearing the ropes.
Due to Rahul Chahar's substandard performance against RCB, MI could look to start Piyush Chawla ahead of him. Piyush Chawla could make use of the conditions in his favor and lead MI's spin attack in this IPL. Piyush Chawla's ability to generate turns from the Chennai pitch could scuffle the batsmen and also lead to wickets.
He could trouble KKR's Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik with his googlies and prevent them from settling at the crease. If called upon to the XI, Piyush Chawla would surely fancy his chances against KKR.