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Abu Dhabi: All eyes will be on the Sheikh Zayed Stadium as Mumbai Indians take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening match of the Pepsi IPL on Wednesday. Expectations are at an all-time high from Mumbai, who secured their maiden title in last edition. On the other hand, the 2012 winners Kolkata will look to get into the groove early in the tournament by getting their combination right.
Mumbai have a strong team with most of their players being an integral part of the side over the last few editions. On the other hand, KKR's hesitancy to retain only skipper Gautam Gambhir and Sunil Narine showed their willingness to revamp their team compostion going forward.
The defending champions have the services of Michael Hussey, who is likely to repeat the role he did so successfully for Chennai Super Kings in the last six editions. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu are expected to bat at No 3 and 4.
Allrounders Kieron Pollard and new recruit Corey Anderson add a lot of muscle to the middle order along. Wicketkeeper-batsman Aditya Tare will most likely be seen as an opener, unless Rohit decides to open himself.
Traditionally, Mumbai have had a versatile bowling unit and it will continue to be so with the re-entry of Zaheer Khan in their ranks. Together with dangerous Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Oha, Mumbai have a potent bowling attack.
On otherhand, Kolkata's case is a little different with many new faces in their setup. Apart from Gambhir and Narine, the players expected to make the playing XI on Wednesday are Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan.
Kallis will open the batting and giving him company could be new joinee Robin Uthappa or Manish Pandey.
KKR's strong point quite clearly is their bowling line up that has some proven performers in Narine, Morne Morkel, Piyush Chawla, R Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav.
Teams from:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Aditya Tare (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Lasith Malinga, Michael Hussey, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Corey Anderson, Josh Hazlewood, Chidhambaram Gautam, Sushant Marathe, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Jalaj Saxena, Apoorv Wankhade, Marchant de Lange, Krishmar Santokie, Ben Dunk, Pawan Suyal
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (Capt.), Sunil Narine, Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Morne Morkel, Piyush Chawla, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Ryan ten Doeschate, Kuldeep Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, SS Mandal, Pat Cummins, Debabrata Das (wk)
Stats and trivia
Match facts
Wednesday April 16, 2014 (day/night)
Start time 1830 (1430 GMT, 8pm IST)
