21 matches, 16 wins, 5 losses, with a win percentage of 76.19! Kolkata Knight Riders’ fans wouldn’t want to read this for sure. Our record against the Knights is the best by any team in a head-to-head comparison in the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL). When we, the three-time champions go up against them, 2-time champions, fireworks of the highest order can be expected.

MI vs KKR contests have been nothing short of memorable for the Paltan. Be it the six Rayudu hit off Balaji in the last over, or Pollard’s 17-ball fifty, or Hardik’s death overs heroics, they are all etched in our memories. Somehow, the Knights have struggled against us right from the inaugural season of the IPL.

This time around, there is a change in guard in the KKR camp. While they retained West Indians, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, they opted not to go for their 2-time title winning captain, Gautam Gambhir. The Delhi-man eventually landed in the Daredevils camp. KKR used a Right-to-match card each over Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla & Kuldeep Yadav. Apart from these players and Chris Lynn, who they bought back, the Knights have a new-look squad for 2018.

From our 2017 title-winning squad, KKR managed to buy three players. Nitish Rana, Mitchell Johnson and Vinay Kumar will be in purple and gold this season. They invested in some of the Under-19 heroes. Batsman, Shubman Gill and tearaway quicks, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi were bought at the auction. The bowling looks quite strong with Mitchell Starc all set to spearhead the attack up-front. Their spin department seems to be in fine hands with Narine and Kuldeep leading, with Chawla to chip in. If anything, it’s their batting line-up that looks a bit slimmer than how it was over the last few years. However, one would expect KKR to get that solved come the VIVO IPL.

We have an exceptional record at Eden Gardens, we have won 9 of the 11 games. We all know Rohit Sharma’s fondness for the venue where he scored a Test ton on debut, his mammoth 264 in an ODI, and so many runs for MI. We won’t be a complaining bunch when we get there this season too. At Wankhede, we have made the iconic ground our fortress against KKR. We have won 6 out of the 7 home games against them.

With such a powerful record, there is no doubt that the pressure will be immense on Kolkata Knight Riders. However, we don’t intend to get carried away. We will continue playing the same brand of cricket we have all these years, and only look to keep bettering our record against the Kolkata boys in 2018. Let’s expect some dashing encounters once again!