Mumbai Indians are all set to take on the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders who are trying to fight their way in to the play-offs. Mumbai would love to continue their winning streak against the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine who has been a great prospect for KKR. Meanwhile, heavy-weights in Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and Mitchell Johnson makes the bowling attack of Mumbai Indians much stronger.

Here we bring to you the players to watch out for in the match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Sachin Tendulkar: Tendulkar has not been in best of form in this season of Indian Premier League and would be looking to put up a strong performance at Wankhede Stadium. If he starts firing from now on, then it is not going to easy for the opposition to stop MI for qualifying in the play-offs.

Rohit Sharma: Sharma has been brilliant with the bat as well as with the captaincy. He has led from the front till now and would be looking to continue winning in their den at Wankhede by outplaying KKR.

Harbhajan Singh: Turbanator has put up a great show with the bat and ball in this IPL. He has bowled some very tight spells which has got him some wickets too. His ability to score some quick runs in the end of the innings makes him a must in Mumbai's line-up.

Mitchell Johnson: Johnson has been quite brilliant with the ball and after those three wickets in one over against CSK, his confidence would have been sky-high. He just needs to stop conceding those odd boundaries which release the pressure from the opposition and he can be much more lethal.

Lasith Malinga: Malinga bowled brilliantly in the last match and would be looking to do some early damage to the brilliant batting line-up of KKR too. He bowled his yorkers to perfection in last match and if he continues to do so, KKR will be having a hard time on the field.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Gautam Gambhir: He needs to make some smart bowling changes which he has not done quite consistently. It has been quite sometime that he hasn’t played a match winning knock and would be looking to make the most of the batting track of Wankhede Stadium.

Manvinder Bisla: Bisla took a good start in the last match but failed to convert into a big one. Once if he gets going then he can be more than handy for KKR. His aggressive strokeplay will surely give him a chance to make the most of the track of Mumbai.

Yusuf Pathan: Pathan played a scintillating knock of 49 runs and showed what he can do if he gets settled and plays for a few overs. He has all that it takes to demolish the pace attack of Mumbai Indians and it’s going to be interesting to see how he will play Mitchell Johnson and Harbhajan Singh this time.

Eoin Morgan: Morgan has been quite consistent with the bat this season and would be looking to make it big against Mumbai Indians. He can be really effective if he comes out to bat in last five overs which is a tailor-made situation for him.

Sunil Narine: Narine has done some serious damage in the last match to Mumbai Indians and would be looking to cast his spin web once again. Last time he bowled Sachin Tendulkar with the beauty of the delivery and Gambhir would be looking to make a perfect use of his trump-card.

By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network