3 player battles to watch out for in MI vs KKR, Match 22 of IPL 2023

The Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday for Match 22 of the IPL 2023 season. Both teams are coming off contrasting results in their previous games, and another close game could be on the cards.

MI were finally able to get off the mark, getting their first win of the season against the Delhi Capitals (DC), and that too on the very last ball.

KKR fought well to make their chase against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) look possible, but that wasn't to be as they fell short by 23 runs.

Both teams have had to deal with injuries to their crucial players, so it's even more important to start winning games and try and get themselves on a roll as far as momentum is concerned. There are a few matchups that will keep both sides interested.

On that note, let's take a look at three such match-ups that could determine the result of the game:

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#3 Andre Russell vs Piyush Chawla

Andre Russell hasn't been in the best of form of late, and that has been an issue that KKR need to address. While there's no doubt that the West Indies superstar can still win a game single-handedly on his day, Russell's struggles against wrist-spin have been quite evident.

On three out of four occasions this season, Russell has been dismissed by a wrist spinner, and that too for a single-digit score on each of those three occasions. This makes his battle with MI spinner Piyush Chawla interesting.

The veteran wrist-spinner is coming off a fantastic three-wicket haul against DC in the previous game, and Mumbai might have done their homework on how to utilize him against Russell.

With Andre Russell likely to back himself to clear the short boundaries of the Wankhede Stadium, this could be an intriguing player battle.

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#2 Suryakumar Yadav vs Varun Chakravarthy

Another player who is undergoing a horrific run of form is MI star Suryakumar Yadav. The ICC Men's T20I Player of the Year in 2022 has found it extremely difficult to score runs in his past few innings across formats.

'SKY' got hit on the head with the ball while fielding against DC and also scored a golden duck. After such a horrific outing, the MI star will want to get back among the runs as soon as possible.

A test for him, though, could be a stiff one with KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy in good bowling form. In the 19 balls that Chakravarthy has bowled to SKY, the latter has scored 20 runs.

However, he has also been dismissed once, and this could give Chakravarthy that confidence boost when the duo come up against each other.

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#1 Rohit Sharma vs Sunil Narine

MI skipper Rohit Sharma was finally able to end the wait of 24 innings to get another IPL fifty, playing a match-winning knock of 65 against DC.

He loves to play against KKR, and it wouldn't be wrong to assume that he would be brimming with confidence on Sunday.

However, Rohit will have a familiar foe to deal with in Sunil Narine. The KKR spinner has dismissed the MI captain a staggering 8 times in T20 cricket. Rohit, meanwhile, has also scored 141 runs off 135 balls faced against Narine.

Both of these veteran players will know that they have a chance of dominating the other, and that's what makes this arguably the biggest match-up of the game.