Abu Dhabi: The Mumbai Indians will play the Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL 2021 encounter at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday around 7:30 (IST). This will be a pivotal match for both Mumbai and Kolkata, as it will indicate their respective future paths in the tournament.
The defending champions will be awaiting Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya’s availability after both of them missed the match against Chennai Super Kings. Coach Mahela Jayawardene, on the other hand, has stated that both Rohit and Hardik are available for selection against the Knight Riders.
KKR outplayed Royal Challengers Bangalore to stay in the race for the play-offs, while MI lost their last game to Chennai Super Kings.
Old foes, new encounter ⚔️
Here's all that you need to know before today's #MIvKKR game 👇#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #IPL2021https://t.co/PmALSnlYEq
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) September 23, 2021
In the maiden leg of the tournament, MI and KKR faced off at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. KKR got off to a great start after bowling the five-time champions out for 152 runs, with openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill combining 72 runs for the first wicket. KKR, on the other hand, suffered a stunning batting collapse and lost the game by eight runs.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathy, Shubman Gill, Harbhajan Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pawan Negi, M Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Dube, Tim Southee, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russel, Ben Cutting, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Seifert.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain) Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, Adam Milne, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult.
 2021 will see defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Kolkata Knight Riders.){kind=link}