(Football news) Do Mumbai Indians (MI) turn on the reset button and begin IPL 2025 preparations? Or do they play with their strongest team even after being ousted from the 2024 Indian Premier League?

One opinion is that, with the T20 World Cup less than a month away, it would be wiser to rest important Indian players like Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya. The other is that, even if the side doesn’t finish in the top four, there is a sense of pride involved and a benefit to the World Cup-bound players taking on challenging opponents.

Mumbai Indians have always been their bogey team with a lopsided win-loss record – it’s 23-10 to Mumbai Indians overall and 7-3 to them at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens – but since KKR’s first win in 12 years at MI’s Wankhede Stadium home last week, and KKR’s superior form this season, they will have the upper hand going into them game.

KKR are chasing a fourth win in a row and ninth overall this season, and if they move to 18 points, then they will formally have the “Q” next to their name. However, if they don’t, the two remaining league games away from home could feature some slightly nervous travellers. Ideally, they would like to firm up their place in the playoffs here and boost their chances of a top-two finish in what is their last home game.

On May 3, KKR broke a 12-year jinx at Wankhede Stadium, when they recovered from 57 for 5 to beat MI by 24 runs. Venkatesh Iyer and impact player Manish Pandey dragged KKR to 169 before the spinners, Andre Russell and Mitchell Starc ran through Mumbai Indians.

Why change a winning combination? KKR have been successful being ultra-aggressive with the bat, and the one day they didn’t – against Mumbai Indians – their bowlers bailed them out.

The only consideration could be whether the fit-again Nitish Rana should come in, possible in place of Angkrish Raghuvanshi. But will that be one left-hand batter too many, with Sunil Narine, Venkatesh and Rinku Singh also in the line-up?

Vaibhav Arora for a batter is the likeliest impact player swap.

This is MI’s first game since their elimination was confirmed. There are no suggestions of big names being rested, but if Bumrah is, then Akash Madhwal is the likeliest replacement. Allrounder Anshul Kamboj should get another game despite conceding 10.5 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on debut. MI did not need an impact player in that game as they won comfortably, but Piyush Chawla or Shreyas Gopal for a batter is the likely swap if needed.

As the playoffs approach, KKR will hope Mitchell Starc, the winner of two ODI World Cups and one T20 World Cup, brings his elite tournament-winning mentality to the franchise. He has been KKR’s most expensive player – not only when it comes to the paycheque, but also in terms of economy rate (11.37) – but his experience has helped young bowlers like Harshit Rana and Arora, as they have said during IPL 2024. His 4 for 33 against MI last week was his first big performance, and if the best version of Starc turns up, KKR will have all their holes plugged.

Rohit Sharma, who will take one of two opening spots for India at the T20 World Cup, has scores of 36, 6, 8, 4, 11 and 4 since his century against Chennai Super Kings. If you take that century out, he has averaged only 20.45 in the other 11 games. The low average could be a factor in his new way of batting in the powerplay, and his strike rate of 152.77 reflects that, but five low scores in a row in a tournament where most of the other openers are feasting against the new ball is a concern.

Also read: Virat Kohli says he has added a new shot to counter spin