Kolkata look to stay afloat

Navi Mumbai, May 8: Kolkata Knight Riders resemble a sinking ship ahead of a rather inconsequential IPL-15 match against bottom-placed Mumbai Indians who, even if already out of reckoning, will have their tails up here on Monday.

Panned for trying out too many combinations at the top, a part of their constant chopping and changing strategy this season which backfired on them pretty badly, KKR are coming off a 75-run drubbing at the hands of table toppers Lucknow Super Giants. While MI will enter the upcoming game on the back of a five-run win over second-placed Gujarat Titans.

MI under Rohit Sharma have already been eliminated from the race to the playoffs as they have just four points from 10 matches and even if they win all their remaining games, the five-time champions can reach only 12 points, far from what is needed to advance to the next stage.

RCB have 12 points already and three other teams have 16 and 14 points.

Two-time winners KKR, under new captain Shreyas Iyer, came a cropper against Lucknow on Saturday and the huge margin of defeat has left them with eight points from 11 games. They have three matches left and the maximum they can reach is 14 points, which is again something that cannot guarantee even a fourth-place finish.

However, despite the inconsequential nature of the match, players from both the beleaguered sides can still gun for individual glory. With the season coming to a close for both the teams, the focus will also be on how to go about the task in the next edition, apart from looking to capping off their hugely disappointing campaigns on a positive note.