Resurgent Mumbai Indians, dodgy Kolkata Knight Riders face off in crunch clash

Kolkata, May 8 (CRICKETNMORE) - Back in the mix riding consecutive victories, a buoyant Mumbai Indians (MI) will cross swords with an iffy Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a second time in a space of three days in a crunch

Coming to the home team, KKR were not at full strength against MI in the away game, with young pacer Shivam Mavi's injured finger joining the team's long list of injuries this season.It remains to be seen whether Mavi, an U-19 World Cup winner, plays on Wednesday. Otherwise KKR might again opt for little-known Prasidh Krishna who made his IPL debut the other evening.Led by West Indian mystery spinner Sunil Narine, KKR's spin battery will again be the key with chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and leggie Piyush Chawla expected to choke the opposition.Karthik has been very consistent with the bat and he would want his other batters to stand up and be counted.

Nitish Rana has been in fine touch for the purple brigade from the outset while Andre Russell has played a few devastating knocks. Young Shubman Gill, who was sent in to open the batting along with Lynn against MI, could again get the opportunity.In the head-to-head count, MI lead KKR by a long long way at 17-5 in 22 meetings so far. Both teams need to win on Wednesday to keep their chances alive and not leave their fate to other teams.